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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).

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)

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

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 )

Please send your comments and questions regarding "Flood Disaster Preparedness ISO" to the info@ifi-home.info .