Natural Hazards: Assessment and Risk Mitigation

Topic 3

Contributing Centre: GFZ

This topic aims at the development of new methods and technologies for reducing risks from natural hazards. We will concentrate on three areas where the contribution of science and technology development to risk mitigation is of utmost importance.


Subtopic 1 (Geohazards: From process understanding to quantifying extremes) will close some of the gaps in understanding and quantifying the natural processes that may lead to disasters. Integrating this process knowledge in risk assessments will contribute to a more intelligent design of mitigation measures. The basis for subtopic 2 (Risk dynamics: From monitoring to analysing change of risks) is the observation that the risk due to natural hazards is changing dramatically. We will develop methods for monitoring these changes and for estimating present trends and possible future developments. Subtopic 3 (Early warning: From critical processes to rapid disaster information) will capitalize on cutting-edge technology for near real-time observations, data processing and communication to identify critical situations, to forecast and predict impending disasters, and to timely activate protective shut-down functions. The implementation of these methods in early warning systems will enable disaster managers and people-at-risk to respond more adequately in crisis situations.



Responsible:

Prof. Bruno Merz
Section 5.4
Telegrafenberg
Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum
14473 Potsdam
phone.: 0331-288 1100