At the two-day workshop on “Urban Flooding Management,” which began on
28 June 2012, experts deliberated on needs and challenges of urban
flood, lessons learned from October 2011 flood in Thailand, and flood
resilience, among other topics.
Jointly organized by AIT; Polytech Nice-Sophia, University
of Nice - Sophia (UNS) Antipolis, France; Tropical Marine Science
Institute , National University of Singapore (NUS); and DLR
Germany Space Agency, Germany; the workshop was inaugurated by Dr.
Nitin Afzulpurkar, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology (SET),
AIT.
Delivering a talk on needs and challenges of urban flooding, Dr.
Philippe Gourbesville of Poltyech Nice Sophia, stated that
sophisticated models which simulate flooding are already in existence.
Quoting from case studies from Bangkok, Mumbai and Singapore, he
stressed the need to “redefine strategy regarding risk, vulnerability
and resilience management.” He stated that during the time of flood,
greater focus is needed on the five key urban services of water supply,
energy supply, solid waste management, communication and
transport.
Dr. Jean Yves Tigli, also of Polytech Nice Sophia, stated that warning
systems are now moving from centralized to distributed ubiquitous
systems. An array on numerous sensors can provide alerts on mobile
phones, via email or even update maps. He elaborated on the Ubiflood project, which focuses on
the ubiquitous computing concept.
Dr. D K Raju of NUS, who is also the event co-organizer, spoke about
“Spatial Analysis for urban flood impact
studies;” while Dr. Masahiko Nagai of AIT elaborated on the Thailand
flood and the role played by AIT and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA) during the
flood. Dr. Nitin Kumar Tripati, Associate Dean of AIT’s SET and event
organizer delivered a presentation on “Upstream Flood Water Retention
Site Suitability.”
Other sessions include “Urban Flood disaster online information
system” by Dr. Chaowalit Silapathong of Geo-Informatics and Space
Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and ‘Urban
flooding and urban resilience” by Ms. Jelena Batic of UNS.
