Sub-theme: Flood Hazards
Convener: Prof Dr. Monique Fort, University Paris Cité, France
Email : [email protected]
Session Description:
Floods, as water induced disasters, are affecting most parts of the world, and are becoming more frequent and destructive in a context of climate change, of increasing population density and urbanization. If rainfall appears as the main triggering factor of a flood, other triggers should also be considered such as glacier melting, landslide dam outbursts, sediment influxes from tributaries. All these triggers, combined or not, may generate cascading processes and make the flood propagation – usually not enough anticipated -more hazardous downstream. Several questions arise: how to predict and/or anticipate a flood, how to estimate its impacts on settlements and infrastructures, how to improve riverbed management, and to develop preventive, sustainable strategies?
This session aims at gathering contributions dealing with different hydro-meteorological hazards, their impacts and their induced consequences and risks on people livelihood and economy.
The following topics are particularly encouraged such as: (i) a better understanding of flood-induced geomorphological processes (erosion, sedimentation) and their relay in space and time; (ii) how different land-use types (and their potential conflicts) can impact the flood propagation and modify the riverbed; (iii) the role and sustainability of hydraulic managements (e.g. modifying river patterns, narrowing river channel, types of bridge) in moderating or exacerbating flood impacts; (iv) the strategies to increase public awareness, preparedness, and self-protection response; (v) the policies at different levels (national, regional, local) to resolve the potential conflicts between human use and natural adjustment capacity of rivers.