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An international program on Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction–a Belt and Road initiative (2016–2020)

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Abstract

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a Chinese national strategy which calls for cooperative economic, political and cultural exchange at the global level along the ancient Silk Road. The overwhelming natural hazards located along the belt and road bring great challenges to the success of BRI. In this framework, a 5-year international program was launched to address issues related to hazards assessment and disaster risk reduction (DRR). The first workshop of this program was held in Beijing with international experts from over 15 countries. Risk conditions on Belt and Road Countries (BRCs) have been shared and science and technology advancements on DRR have been disseminated during the workshop. Under this program, six task forces have been setup to carry out collaborative research works and three prioritized study areas have been established. This workshop announced the launching of this program which involved partners from different countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Russia, Italy, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan. The program adopted the objectives of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and United Nation Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and was implemented to assess disaster risk in BRCs and to propose suitable measures for disaster control which can be appropriate both for an individual country and for specific sites. This paper deals with the outcomes of the workshop and points out opportunities for the near future international cooperation on this matter.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the International partnership program (Grant No. 131551KYSB20160002), National Natural Science Foundation Major International (Regional) Joint Research Project (Grant No. 41520104002) and Science and Technology Service Network Initiative of Chinese Academy of Science (Grant No. KFJSTS- ZDTP-015) and Authors would like to thank all participants of the 1st international workshop for sharing their knowledge and experiences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Processes/Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Lei Yu, Cui Peng & Amar Deep Regmi

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Lei Yu

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Cui Peng

  4. Public Health England, London, 133-155, England

    Virginia Murray

  5. UNISDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, Geneva, Switzerland

    Virginia Murray

  6. Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Scientific Committee, Beijing, 100094, China

    Virginia Murray

  7. Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection, National Research Council, 4-35127, Padova, Italy

    Alessandro Pasuto & Giacomo Titti

  8. National Center of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, 25130, Pakistan

    Muhammad Shafique

  9. Internal Quality Assurance Unit &Center for International Affairs, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka

    Tilak Priyadarshana D. G

Authors
  1. Lei Yu
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  2. Cui Peng
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  3. Amar Deep Regmi
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  4. Virginia Murray
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  5. Alessandro Pasuto
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  6. Giacomo Titti
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  7. Muhammad Shafique
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  8. Tilak Priyadarshana D. G
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Correspondence to Cui Peng.

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Yu, L., Peng, C., Regmi, A.D. et al. An international program on Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction–a Belt and Road initiative (2016–2020). J. Mt. Sci. 15, 1383–1396 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-4842-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-018-4842-4

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