October 13 is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which sees CIMA Research Foundation and ACROTEC Foundation as protagonists of events and activities in Italy and around the world. We collect the events that see us involved in this particularly important date for the Foundations, whose research, innovation and technological development activities have always focused on these issues. Especially this year: the focus chosen for 2021 by the United Nations is “international cooperation for developing countries to reduce risk and losses from disasters”
October 13 is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, this year dedicated to target f of the Sendai Framework, Substantially enhance international cooperation to developing countries through adequate and sustainable support to complement their national actions for implementation of the present Framework by 2030. Risk mitigation is a theme that has always been at the heart of the activities carried out by CIMA Research Foundation and ACROTEC Foundation, whose activities have focused for years on hydro-meteorological risk and forest fires.
This year, our work will be visible in a series of national and international events, in different forms: from the tools used in research, monitoring and forecasting activities, to the partnerships that we have created over time, and that represent essential synergies for an effective risk reduction, up to the presentation of projects in which we are involved.
In particular, here are some of the most important events for us during this important week:
- On October 12 in Rome, for the Civil Protection Week, Marina Morando, Chiara Franciosi, Marta Giambelli and Francesca Munerol, researchers in our Planning and Procedures Department, will participate in the event organized by the Civil Protection Department on the Observatory of Good Practices. In view of the establishment of the Observatory, this day aims to start a dialogue with some interlocutors of the National Service on organizational methods and governance of this tool. Regions, Anci and volunteers will discuss the issue through working tables dedicated to three different aspects: what is a good practice, how to evaluate it, what are the possible organizational methods and the objectives of the Observatory.
- On 13 October in Rome, always for the Civil Protection Week, our president Luca Ferraris, during the day dedicated to “Science for Civil Protection”, will speak at the round table of the workshop organized by the Italian Department of Civil Protection entitled “The multi-risk dimension in research and university training. Reflections on the contribution of the Centers of Expertise to civil protection activities”. An important opportunity for discussion with the scientific community and universities on these issues, also in view of the definition of a path aimed at training experts in risk assessment and management. The event will be broadcast live streaming on the website and YouTube channel of the Department of Civil Protection, and will be presented the Italian Consortium for Research on Risk Reduction (CI3R), of which we are founding members.
- Also on October 13, CIMA Research Foundation researchers will present the myDEWETRA.world platform during a training event organized in Maputo (Mozambique) together with WW-GVC and DNGRH (National Directorate for Water Management) in the context of an ECHO-funded project. The event will be an opportunity to present the platform in its new configuration for Mozambique (the first in Portuguese), highlighting its operational use for civil protection purposes for the prediction of flood risk. In fact, the FloodPROOFS flood forecasting technology chain will be presented, implemented on one of the main rivers of Mozambique, of particular utility in view of the upcoming rainy season.
The main national and provincial institutions in Mozambique concerned with flood risk management (National Institute for Disaster Management, National Institute of Meteorology and DNGRH) will be involved. The configuration at national scale of the myDEWETRA.world platform is intended to facilitate the definition of timely and coordinated alerts among different institutions and the event of Wednesday 13th is intended to be an opportunity to stimulate dialogue on the sharing of relevant data and information.
- Earth Technology Expo, an event of which we are partners, will be held in Florence from 13 to 16 October. We will present a stand that will have as its main theme the “data”, understood as an essential element for the derivation of information necessary for monitoring, analysis, supervision and, where possible, anticipation of environmental processes. The technologies on display will range from OPEN HARDWARE Environmental Monitoring Systems of the ACRONET Paradigm, to drones for remote sensing of the state of the places and for the understanding of natural processes, ending with algorithms for the extrapolation of information content from satellite images and thematic platforms for their integration and decision support (ACRONETWORK, myDEWETRA, PrevenzioneComune). Floods and forest fires, which are the two themes for which we are the center of competence of the Italian Department of Civil Protection, will be the drive of the entire narrative proposed to visitors, through a real/virtual path guided by experts of different technologies.
In the program of the fair in Florence we will be present also on October 14, with a speech by Luca Pulvirenti, head of our Earth Observation Department, entitled “Automatic mapping services of flooded areas and areas affected by fire from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data”, and on October 15 with a speech by Eva Trasforini, head of the Risk Assessment and Loss Data Department, at the meeting “Save the cities from hydrogeological risk”, where she will talk about the assessment of damage at the meeting “Let’s save cities from hydrogeological risk”, where he will talk about the assessment of expected damages.
- Expo Dubai 2021. We have been invited by African Union Commission (AUC) to the event organized on the occasion of the International Day. This will be an opportunity for us to present two projects in which we are involved in Africa. These are, in particular, our work within the Programme for a continental coordination, early warning and action system in Africa, financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), within which we are setting up three Operations Rooms, active 24/7, the main one in Addis Ababa (at the headquarters of the African Union Commission) and the others as regional centers in Niger and IGAD.
Our program directors Roberto Rudari and Marco Massabò will speak at the day dedicated to “Spotlights on Africa DRR”, sharing the experience of CIMA Research Foundation in the development of warning systems and risk assessment. The day will be attended by UNDRR representative Mami Mizutori and the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development of the African Union, Josefa Sacko.
Also on October 13, the second session of the GFP Annual Conference (of which we are co-organizers), dedicated to Global Flood Forecasting, will be held to present and review the latest developments, new approaches and datasets in the field of global flood risk modeling, an essential tool for risk management. The meeting, whose organizers are Peter Salamon of the European JRC and our Roberto Rudari, is also an opportunity to reflect on the current limitations of these tools and possible strategies to overcome them.
On October 15 there will be an event in Ethiopia, again to celebrate the International Day of DRR. Keynote speakers will include representatives of the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC, the Ethiopian civil protection agency), AUC, UNDRR, IGAD, Addis Ababa University and Bahir Dar University. CIMA Research Foundation will be present in a dedicated booth, where will be presented the results of the project UNDRR Disaster Risk Reduction Capacity Building in Ethiopia: development of an information management system for early warning for forest fires in Ethiopia. Specifically, the results of the implementation of the RISICO model (RISICO ETHIOPIA) integrated in the myDEWETRA.world platform with data at national scale, the production of hazard maps using machine learning techniques, and the system of automatic bulletins (MyDewetra Bulletins) accompanied by appropriate SoP that allow the three stakeholders (Environment, Forest Climate Change Commission, NDRMC, National Meteorological Agency) to produce bulletins three times a week with forecast window up to seven days.