Release of the 7th International Conference “Debris Flows: Disasters, Risk, Forecast, Protection”
The 7th International Conference on “Debris Flows: Disasters, Risk, Forecast, Protection” was successfully held in Chengdu from September 23 to 27, 2024.
Group photo. Chengdu, September 23, 2024
Debris flows in mountainous regions cause significant damage to the economy, and often lead to casualties among the population. To solve the debris flow problem, the cooperation of experts from different countries is required. One of the forms of such cooperation is the holding of conferences on “Debris Flows: Disasters, Risk, Forecast, Protection”. The conference in China is the seventh and continues the series of conferences under the indicated name, held in Pyatigorsk (2008), Moscow (2012), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (2014), Irkutsk and Arshan (2016), Tbilisi (2018), Dushanbe and Khorog (2020, due to pandemic held in a reduced correspondence format).
The initiator of the conferences is the Debris Flow Association, founded in 2005 in Pyatigorsk, Russia. The Debris Flow Association continues the traditions established by the Commissions for the study of the Kazbek blockages in the 19th century and the Debris Flow Commission of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which worked from 1948 to the end of the 1980s. At present, the Debris Flow Association is the world’s largest association of specialists in Debris Flow protection and protection, which now includes 189 experts from 24 countries.
Lijun Su (Vice Director) and Lijun Liu (Deputy Director) of the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), Chinese Academy of Sciences attended the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was chaired by Prof. Kaiheng Hu, the co-chair of the organizing committee.
Lijun Su delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the IMHE. Sergey Chernomorets and Sven Fuchs (co-chairs of the Organizing Committee), and Natalia Bogdanova (head of the publishing house that published the conference proceedings), delivered speeches during the ceremony. During the opening ceremony, representatives from the IMHE presented a translated work titled “Debris Flow” (originally by Fleishman from the Soviet Union) by Deji Yao to the Debris Flow Association. Additionally, the prestigious Fleishman Medal Award (the highest honor of the Debris Flow Association) was conferred upon top scientists in the field of debris flow, including Academician Peng Cui from IMHE, Professor Ko-Fei Liu from National Taiwan University, and Viktor Blagovechshenskiy from Institute of Geography and Water Security of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The conference provided an international platform for global researchers in debris flow to engage in academic and technical exchanges. Participants engaged in comprehensive and in-depth discussions on themes such as “Regional Distribution Patterns and Impact of Debris Flow Disasters,” “Formation and Mechanisms of Debris Flow Disasters,” “Observation and Simulation of Debris Flows,” “Monitoring and Early Warning of Debris Flow Disasters,” and “Risk Assessment and Engineering Mitigation of Debris Flow Disasters.”
Academician Peng Cui, Professor Ko-Fei Liu from National Taiwan University, Academician Givi Gavardashvili from Tsotne Mirtkhulava Institute of Water Management of the Georgian Technical University (Georgia), Sven Fuchs from BOKU University, Vienna (Austria), Nikolai Popov from Institute of Geography and Water Security of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Irina Dergacheva from Scientific Research Hydrometeorological Institute of Uzbekistan, Abdelilah Dekayir from University of Moulay Ismail (Morocco), Kaiheng Hu from IMHE, and Sergey Chernomorets from Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia) gave us the keynote presentations at the conference, respectively. A total of 63 reports were organized across 8 thematic sessions, along with multiple poster presentations.
Participants congratulated Dr. Eduard Zaporozhchenko from Russia, Vice President of the Debris Flow Association and organizer of several conferences, on his 90th anniversary.
After the academic reports, the scientists and practicioners visited the epicenter of the “512” Wenchuan Earthquake, Qipan Gully, and Niujian Gully. They conducted field investigations and on-site discussions regarding the debris flow disaster-prone environment, disaster prevention and control engineering, as well as the current status of monitoring and early warning systems in the earthquake-affected areas.
The conference was organized by the IMHE and the Debris Flow Association. It was co-hosted by the Asian Network of Debris Flow, Chinese Academy of Sciences with the participation of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geography; Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Far East Geological University, FEB RAS; Landslide and Engineering Slope Branch of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics & Engineering; State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University; Institute of Earth Crust, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences; State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University; Institute of Care-Life, ChengDu / Sichuan University; China National Meteorological Centre; Landslide and Debris Flow Professional Committee of the China Association for Disaster Prevention; China-Pakistan Joint Research Center on Earth Sciences; Alliance of International Science Organizations on Disaster Risk Reduction.
More than 170 experts from 16 countries attended the conference in person. Considering co-authors who contributed to articles and presentations, the total number of participants is 270. They work in 92 institutions from 19 countries (Austria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, Cuba, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan). The volume of the Proceedings of the conference includes 67 articles, the authors of which are experts from 16 countries. Part of selected articles have been published in special issues of the GeoRisk World journal and of the Journal of Mountain Science. Conference websites are www.debrisflow.ru/en/df24 and http://www.icdf2024.com/En/Default.
The participants decided that the next 8th conference on “Debris Flows: Disasters, Risk, Forecast, Protection” will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in October 2025.
Welcome speeches from leaders of the organizing committee, the conference chair, and invited guests.
Book gifting and award ceremony.
Keynote presentations.
Coffee break networking.
Field seminar in the mountains of Ngawa-Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
Logo of the conference series (a drawing from a book by S. Fleishman, published in the 1950s)
Conference proceedings
GeoRisk World journal special issue