Pakistan Academy of Sciences in collaboration with Chinese Academy of Sciences organised an international Conference on “CPEC Natural Hazards Risk Assessment and Mitigation” and “Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction “
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ranged from Kashi of China to Gawadar Port of Pakistan with overall length of 3000km. Under Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it connected the “Silk road Economic Belt” at its north end and “21 Century Maritime Silk Road” at its south and involved national collaboration on different aspect such as transportation, energy, fiber optic cable and maritime. Under the BRI framework, CPEC become the trial and prioritized region. The geological setting of CPEC is complex. The converge of the mountains of Himalaya, Karakorum and Hindu Kush ranges in this region have led to active tectonic activities, sharp elevation and climate variation. The present of overwhelmed natural hazards in this region made it the museum of disasters which required scientific exploration. Subjected to the natural environment, CPEC suffered from a large range of natural hazards, such as earthquake, landslide, rock fall, debris flow, flood, avalanches and GLOF. Those hazards actively distributed along CPEC and posed enormous threat to CPEC. In order to minimize such risk and serve the development of CPEC, Chinese Academy of Science and Pakistan Academy of Science planned an international workshop at 17-28, July, 2017 at Islamabad on Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction (SiDRR) and CPEC Natural Hazards Risk Assessment and Mitigation.
1. Theme of Workshop
Theme: Natural hazards risk assessment and mitigation strategies at CPEC
Topics：
l CPEC Natural Hazard Database and Information Sharing
l CPEC Natural Hazard Formation and Mechanism
l CPEC Natural Hazard Risk Assessment
l CPEC Natural Hazard Forecast, Monitoring and Early-warning
l CPEC Natural Hazard Mitigation Strategy and Key Technology
l CPEC Natural Hazard Major Infrastructure and Associated Risk
l CPEC Natural Hazard Risk Management and Post-Disaster Reconstruction
The workshop was inaugurated by Federal Secretary S & T Mr. Fazal Abbass Maken. They supported the joint initiative of Pakistan and Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish International Earth Sciences Institute in Islamabad that will be equipped with modern technology to assess, risk, mitigate and respond to disasters that are quite frequent now because of climate change. More than hundred delegates from countries like China, Iran, Nepal, ICIMOD, Srilanka, Italy, Hungry, Mongolia and Russia participated in the event. Prof. Zabta Shinwari was the chief organizer of the event.