Disaster Management 2011 - 2nd International Conference on Disaster Management and Human Health: Reducing Risk, Improving Outcomes

The second International Conference on Disaster Management has been reconvened following the success of the first meeting held at the Wessex Institute of Technology in the New Forest, UK.

The world is facing an increasing number of natural disasters affecting millions of people, destroying property and resulting in loss of human life. These include major floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and many others.

Today the world faces unparalleled threats from human-made disasters that can be attributed to the failure of industrial and energy installations as well as terrorism. Added to this is the unparalleled threat of emerging and re-emerging diseases, with scientists predicting events such as an influenza pandemics.

Human made and natural disasters in 2004 were estimated to have claimed more than 21,000 lives worldwide with economic losses in the order of US$100 billion.

Delegates attending Disaster Management 2011 will be invited to submit an expanded version of their paper for publication in the International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering, associated with the Wessex Institute of Technology.

Kirsty Duncan pointed out that in 2005, an unparalleled frequency and scale of natural disasters tested the international relief community; Hurricane Katrina, alone, destroyed 300,000 homes, displaced 770,000 people and cost $US 200 billion. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters found that natural disasters killed 235,000: affected 214 million people and cost $US190 million in 2008. The death toll was three times higher than the annual average for the years, 2000-2007 because Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people in Myanmar and the Sichuan earthquake in China killed nearly 90,000 people. (Source: Duncan, K and Brebbia, C A (eds), Disaster Management and Human Health Risk, WIT Press, 2009).

All these events pose unprecedented risks to human health on a world scale which requires a massive effort by the international community. This conference therefore focuses on current global health risks, and how best to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters in order to reduce human health impacts.

It will help participants to understand the nature of global risks, learn risk management strategies to prepare for disruptive events, and identify the best prevention methods in disaster management and public health. It will provide a forum for the exchange of information between leading academics and partners in disaster management.