International Flood Initiative (IFI) focuses
on research, information networking, education and training,
empowering communities and providing technical assistance and
guidance. Please find
more information here about the International Flood
Initiative. You can also
download IFI pamphlet (PDF,
843KB) and IFI introduction
(PPT, 2.3MB or PDF, 800KB).
News
and Events:
June 26,
2009: The Special Event on
“
Charting Global Agenda for Water-related Disaster Risk
Reduction - A follow-up on the
report of the High-level Expert Panel on
Water and Disaster
(HLEP/UNSGAB)”
was organized by the International Flood Initiative (IFI) on
June 19. 2009 in Geneva. The event was opened by official
statement of the Ambassador of Japan in Geneva and more
than 25 representatives of different organizations took
part it. The main conveners of the event were WMO, UNU,
UN/ISDR, UN/ESCAP and ICHARM as the IFI Secretariat. The
workshop emphasized two very important commitments for IFI in
the “Water and Disaster” report drafted by the high-level
expert panel on water and disaster of UNSGAB. ( IFI Commitments, PDF-
761KB)

What is "Water and
Disaster" Action Plan?
The High-Level Expert Panel on Water and
Disaster/ UNSGAB (HLEP) was convened at the request of the UN
Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
(UNSGAB) in 2007, under the Presidency of H.E. Dr. Han
Seung-soo, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea. The
Expert Panel members subsequently found themselves united in
their sincere wish to build a safer world and, as a result of
serious and devoted effort, created an Action Plan for
preventing, preparing for, and managing water-related
disasters. That Water and Disaster Action Plan was
presented in March of 2009 at the 5th World Water Forum in
Istanbul. (An Introduction

What are the IFI commitments in the
"Water and Disaster" Action Plan?
1- National government to promptly develop
people-centered warning systems, comprehensive flood risk
maps and assessments linked to communication systems such
as cell phone networks. These systems to include
observation and warning for flash floods. The panel
requests WMO and UNESCO (via International
Flood Initiative) to assist governments in
undertaking the proposed actions and invite international
financial institutions to support the fulfillment of the
proposed actions. (Item No. 2 in annex 1, list of
actions)
2- International Flood
Initiative and international hydrological
and hydraulic institutes to examine the efficiency and
effectiveness of disaster prevention measures and develop
disaster preparedness indices for implementation by local
authorities. (Item No. 30 in annex 1, list of
actions)

Topics for
Discussion
Note:
Please send your topics for discussion to
the IFI
Secretariat:
- January
14 (Posted by Prof. Takeuchi and Dr.
Ali Chavoshian from
ICHARM):
A
"Flood Disaster
Preparedness ISO" has been
proposed to the 4th International Symposium of Flood
Defence in Toronto on May 8th, 2008 as well
as some other occasions by the IFI secretariat
at ICHARM.
The Flood Disaster Preparedness
Standard is an international standard
that any community of any scale is suggested to follow
in order to make it prepared for natural hazards to
minimize their negative impacts and lead to quick
recovery when they occur. The standard
is not a list of facilities nor equipments to be
installed, but rather a list
of institutional
procedure that any community commit to
follow to assure a positive
spiral be installed into its community
management system leading to a continuous improvement in
disaster preparedness. There are already
some,
although focuses are
different:
-
US National
Fire Protection Association (NFPA): NFPA 1600, Standard on
Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity
Programs,2007 Edition
- ISO
(2006):International
Workshop Agreement
, Ref number IWA 5:2006(E) Emergency
preparedness
-ISO 9001
and 9004: A framework for disaster
preparedness and also
the
Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act
of 1997 of Japan
Such standard may be designed under the
following principles:
(1)
Designed according to the local
reality and manageable within the local
context and administrative framework
(2)
Decided, implemented, checked and revised by the community
authorities regularly and have a built-in mechanism for
continuous improvement in a positive spiral
based on plan-do-check-action
cycle .
(3)
Linked with and consistent with
the national and
regional emergency management
scheme .
(4) Supported by
the best practicable disaster
forecasting
system available
to the nation/region.
(5) Internally & externally
reviewed and checked regularly
and re-licensing
procedure should
be built-in.
(6) Evolve with societal change
such as land-use
change.
More.... Proposal (PDF, 30KB)
and; Presentation (PDF,605KB
)
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Please send your comments and
questions regarding "Flood Disaster
Preparedness ISO" to
the info@ifi-home.info
. |
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