Risk Analysis 2012

8th International Conference on Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation 2012

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19 - 21 September 2012

Brac, Croatia

 Overview

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The eighth International Conference on Risk Analysis and Hazard Mitigation took place on the island of Brač, Croatia, organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology, UK whose Director, Professor Carlos Brebbia, was the Chairman of the meeting. The conference was sponsored by WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment and the International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering. The papers are permanently archived in the eLibrary of the Institute (http://library.witpress.com/).

The conference covered a series of important topics of current research interest and with practical applications, dealing with many different aspects of risk analysis and hazard mitigation associated with both natural and anthropogenic hazards.

The analysis and management of risk and the mitigation of hazards is of fundamental importance to planners and researchers around the world. Scientific knowledge is essential to our better understanding of risk. Natural hazards such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, fires and others have always affected human societies. Man-made hazards, however, are playing an ever increasing role as the complexity of modern society increases. The interaction of natural and anthropogenic risks adds to the problem.

Effective risk management and the mitigation of possible risks have become a high priority of government and public concern. The ability to model complex systems enables to quantify hazards and to simulate their effects, providing for more effective risk management.

Risk Analysis 2012 discussed these problems and presented viable solutions and case studies. It followed other successful meetings in the series, which first started in Valencia (1998), and continued in Bologna (2000), Sintra (2002), Rhodes (2004), Malta (2006), Cephalonia (2008) and the Algarve (2010).

 Opening Address

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Delegates at the conference

The Conference was opened by Carlos Brebbia who described the work of the Wessex Institute of Technology, particularly the organisation of a series of international courses and conferences as part of the objectives of WIT, ie the dissemination of knowledge on an international level. The WIT conference programme consists of 25 meetings per year held at different locations and in collaboration with other institutions from all over the world. The programme has motivated joint government programmes and many other research initiatives.

Carlos explained that many other activities take place in the WIT Campus, located in the New Forest National Park in England. They comprise training at PhD level as well as post-doctoral research. An important activity is industrial support particularly regarding consulting and maintenance related to the software programmes developed as a result of WIT research. These codes are widely used around the world for the solution of a number of fluid and solid problems, including also electrical and electromagnetic cases.

Finally Carlos referred to WIT’s publishing activities, including not only the Transactions of the Institute, which comprises the collection of papers presented at the conferences, but also a very active monograph and edited book publishing programme and a number of International Journals which are Open Access and because of their wide availability and quality are becoming increasingly popular.

 Conference Topics

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Delegates during an excursion

The conference sessions dealt with the following topics:

  •  Risk Assessment and Management
  •  Risk Mapping
  •  Hazard Prevention, Management and Control
  •  Vulnerability
  •  Natural Hazards and Climate Change
  •  Safety and Security

 

 

 Invited Papers

There were a series of invited presentations by well know members ie

‘Lithuanian activities in energy security’

by E Ušpuras, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania

‘Using blind-tests for database evaluation in the prediction of rotational-translational landslides in the Tirano North area, northern Italy’

by A G Fabbri, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy

‘Magnitude and frequency: challenges for the assessment of vulnerability to geomorphic hazards’

by S Fuchs, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Austria

‘A risk management methodology for protozoan control in drinking water supply systems’

by A A L S Duarte, University of Minho, Portugal

‘The role of Intelligent Transport Systems in evacuation route optimisation for energy vehicles’

by A Vitetta, University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

 Conference Dinner & Social Events

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Conference Dinner

The conference gave the participants numerous occasions for interacting and making contact with each other. They all had lunches together in addition to the coffee breaks and other social occasions.

The Conference dinner took place in the tow of Jelsa, on the neighbouring island of Hvar, where the delegates were taken by a special chartered boat leaving from Bol. The pleasant and short trip to and from Jelsa gave occasion to further contacts. The banquet itself was held in what is accepted to be the best restaurant in that port. It consisted of a series of dishes followed by fresh island fish, all washed down with wines for which the Dalmatian Islands are famous. The participants were delighted with the quality of the food and the unique atmosphere of the restaurant in an ancient stone house.

The conference closed with a complimentary excursion to the highest point on the island, a mountain called Vidova Gora from where all the sundry islands could be seen – a truly outstanding sight. Afterwards the delegates were offered lunch at a typical taverna, returning to the Conference by late afternoon. The trip was an effective way to cement the contacts made during the conference.

 Conference Proceedings

The proceedings of Risk Analysis, 552pp (Print ISBN: 978-1-84564-620-2 eISBN: 978-1-84564-621-9) are available from WIT Press. Orders can be placed on the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com or by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223 or fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853.

Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT eLibrary as Volume 44 ofWIT Transactions on Information and Communication Technologies(ISSN: 1746-4463, Digital ISSN 1743-3517). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at http://library.witpress.com

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