Event Summary
Organization: GFDRR & Safehub
Session Leads
- Amal Ali, GFDRR
- Andy Thompson, safehub
Speakers
- John Roome, Senior Director, Climate Change Group, World Bank Group (chair)
- Hessel Winsemius, Deltares
- Soumya Balasubramanya, International Water Management Institute
- Jurjen Wagemaker, Floodtags
- Justin Fessler, IBM
- Jan van Til, FutureWater
- Alanna Simpson, GFDRR
Description
The field of disaster risk identification is vastly transforming. With the increased use of mobile technology, big data, remote sensing and other advances, we are witnessing the application of innovative solutions to some of the sector’s greatest challenges. During the session, we investigated new trends in risk and highlight innovative disruptive technologies that will continue to change the landscape for decades to come.
Technologies Showcased
Participatory Terrain Data and Modelling (Deltares): The tool synthesises high resolution terrain on-the-fly by converting OpenStreetMap features such as buildings, roads, culverts and channels, into elevated objects, and combining these with lower resolution satellite based elevation data. The project is currently being piloted in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where the team is making high resolution flood simulations with 3Di maps.
Open Source Mobile Weather stations (International Water Management Institute): The open source mobile weather stations provides timely information on rainfall intensity through SMS texts. This information can help better regulate water levels in reservoirs and reduce damages from flooding when reservoirs breach during intense rainfall events.
Twitter Analysis for Quick Flood Response (FloodTags): Social media activity peaks during floods. But the content comes in large numbers and is too uncertain to base decisions on. The open source project FloodTags interprets online (social) media data for development issues. In The Philippines and Indonesia, FloodTags is now setting up an online data service for (citizen-based) flood response of the Red Cross.
IBM Watson (IBM): IBM Watson is a cognitive computing system. Watson is being used in multiple subject domains such as cancer research, investigations and the United States intelligence community.IBM will be providing a demonstration of how Watson Explorer can help identify vehicle defects in the NHTSA public data set, and an example of Watson’s applicability for the risk and resilience community.
Flying Sensors for Ultra High Resolution Flood Risk Identification (FutureWater): Humanitarian drones, called Flying Sensors, are deployed for ultra-high resolution flood risk identification at local scale. Information from the aerial imagery (video, photography) enable local water managers and decision makers to simultaneously take action that reduce their risk and respond faster during floods emergencies.
ThinkHazard! (GFDRR): Think Hazard! will be a simple and quick, yet robust, analytical tool with underpinning data and analytical systems that enables a development specialist to determine, for a given project location, any relevant natural hazards, their potential likelihood of occurrence and what actions they should take to make their project resilient.
Presentations
Participatory Terrain Data and Modelling – Hessel Winsemius, Deltares
Open Source Weather Stations: Innovative solutions to Water Management problems – Soumya Balasubramanya, International Water Management Institute
Twitter Analysis for Quick Flood Response – Jurjen Wagemaker, Floodtags
IBM Watson – Justin Fessler, IBM
Flying Sensors for Ultra-High Resolution Flood Risk Identification at Local Scales in Mozambique – Jan van Til, FutureWater
Ignite
By Amal Ali, GFDRR
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