Landslide seminar in Thailand

In cooperation with Pakistan Geological Survey and ADPC (Asian Disaster Prearedness Centre), NGI is arranging a regional landslide seminar in Bankok 13-14 October 2008.

The seminar, with the theme "Experience on Investigations and Mitigations of Landslides", will have participants from Pakistan, Norway, India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Thailand, Bangladesh and Shri Lanka. The seminar is part of the institutional cooperation program between Pakistan and Norway, sponsored through PAK 3004, a component of the bilateral development co-operation between the Government of Pakistan and Norway

Pakistan is one of the countries in the Himalaya region which is most exposed to natural disasters in connection with extreme weather and geological disaster such as earthquakes. In the last few years the loss of lives and material damage due to earthquakes and landslides have been so severe that the international community has realized that support is needed in order to guard against future incidents.

Earlier earthquakes, and in particular the one in Octobre 2005, shows that great parts of the country is potentially exposed. Earthquakes in mountain areas makes the risk even higher. In addition, the northern part of Pakistan experience rain seasons with large precipitation, which may trigger landslides. The risk for damages is caused just as much from landslides as from earthquakes.

The aim of the PAK 3004 is to:

• Assist the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) to strengthen its expertise on site investigations, mitigation measures and emergency preparedness
• Implement state-of-the-art approach to identify areas with high risk associated with heavy rain or earthquakes. This will be made through a pilot project which can be used as an example in subsequent work
• Assist GSP in building up an information base of previous landslides and assist in the implementation of a national zone mapping for landslide risk
• Assist in the preparations for a strategy plan for how Pakistan should put priority and handle risk associated with landslides in the long term.