IDRC Chengdu 2009

The International Disaster and Risk Conference (IDRC), which is a creation of Global Risk Forum GRF Davos, and strongly supported by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and other prominent international organizations, has been held annually on three occasions from 2006 to 2008. The IDRC conferences contribute greatly to the international discourse of disaster prevention and reduction and attract wide attention of the academic community of international disaster risk management.

The massive Wenchuan earthquake, which struck the southwest China province of Sichuan on May 12th 2008, shocked the whole world and showed us that capacity building is the key for integral risk management and sustainable development of economies and society on all levels. 2009 is the anniversary of the Wenchuan Earthquake. To sum up the experiences that China and the international community went through with this earthquake, to deal effectively with the disasters that are becoming more and more complicated, and with the ambition to create a safer and more harmonious world, the committee of IDRC decided that the IDRC 2009 will be held in Chengdu city of Sichuan province in China from July 13th to 15th, 2009. The IDRC Chengdu 2009 China will provide a strategic platform for summarizing and discussing the successful experiences of all countries that have to deal with catastrophes, so as to promote the capacity building that helps to cope with disasters.

The IDRC Chengdu 2009 China is devised and sponsored by Global Risk Forum GRF Davos, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Forums of Disaster and Social Management of Central Committee of China Democratic League, Science and Technology Committee of Ministry of Water Resources, Emergency and Rescue Promotion Center of Ministry of Civil Affairs, Sichuan University, Beijing Normal University and other organizations, and hosted by the Asian Research Center of Global Risk Forum GRF Davos. Abstracts are welcome for this conference, which will gather many experts from the academic field of disaster risk management from all over the world.