International Flood Network

International Flood Network

Flood Devastation Increasing Floods are natural phenomena caused by rain, but flood damage is influenced by various social as well as natural factors. The scale and form of flood damage depends on land development and changes of land use in river basins. Is flood damage actually increasing globally? The figure below is a graph of data on natural disasters all over the world. It shows average numbers of people affected by natural disasters. Viewing the statistical data in this way, We can see the upward trend in flood damage, and that it has increased substantially since the 1980s. In addition, the great devastation caused by floods in various parts of the world in recent years is shown in the table below the graph. millions of people 160 140 120 100 80 60 Floods 40 Drought, famine, Rainstorms 20 Others Earthquakes Landslides Volcanic eruptions 0 1973-1977 1978-1982 1983-1987 1988-1992 1993-1997 1998-2002 year Source : World Disasters Report, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies World Disasters Report, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Average Numbers of People Affected by Natural Disasters (1973 2002) Major Flood Damage in Recent Years June 1998 *1 December 1999 *2 February 2000 September 2000 November 2001 *3 August 2002 *4 May 2003 September 2004 China Venezuela Mozambique Cambodia Vietnam Thailand Algeria Czech Republic, Germany etc. Sri Lanka Caribbean region, Southeastern USA 230 million people were affected, 3,000 dead. Serious landslide damage caused by heavy rain, 30,000 50,000 dead. Massive flooding caused by cyclone and heavy rain, 2 million people were affected, 630 dead. Flood in wide range of the Mekong river basin caused by tropical cyclone, 800 dead in downstream. Serious havoc caused by strong rainstorm, 751 dead. Historical heavy rain swells the Elbe river, causing a flood with a 200-1,000 year return period, resulting in 17 deaths in the Czech Republic, and 20 deaths in Germany. Flood caused by heaviest rainfall in past 50 years leaves, 265 dead and 25,000 houses totally collapsed. Serious damage by hurricane Gene leaves 2,500 dead.

The death toll from flood accounted for 20% of total deaths from natural disasters during the past 10 years, which includes the Great Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. Floods also accounted for 33% of the total economic losses caused by natural disasters. The expansion of flood damage is related to the disorderly spread of urbanization and the problem of poverty in cities. Flood damage leads to economic ruin in regions and nations, adversely affecting efforts to attain sustainable and sound socioeconomic development and making povertyrelated problems more difficult to overcome. In this way, expanding flood damage contributes to a vicious circle of poverty. It is necessary to encourage all countries to raise flood issues higher on the international agenda to break this vicious circle. World's natural disasters (1995-2004) Number of deaths : 470,860 people Economic loss : US$ 49,420,000,000 Others 2% Floods 20% Tidal waves/ tsunami 2% Others 5% Floods 33% Earthquakes 16% Tidal waves/ tsunami 49% Rainstorms 13% Rainstorms 30% Earthquakes 30% *1 Source : "EM-DAT" CRED *2 *3 *4

What is IFNet? Although flooding is currently a problem faced by a very large number of countries, the approach to it is generally limited to treating it as a regional problem, and no international organizations or networks specializing in flood issues have emerged. For this reason, the experience with and knowledge of flood countermeasures gained by many countries have not been sufficiently shared. Expertise is rarely applied outside of regions immediately concerned. The International Flood Network (IFNet) has been established to promote international sharing of knowledge, technology and information related to flood countermeasures, and international cooperation in flood management. IFNet is expected to play a role in reducing flood disasters by encouraging and helping countries, international organizations, and individuals with knowledge and experience in solving flood problems to participate in the network and other international efforts and by facilitating exchanges of information. IFNet is an action--oriented network aiming to promote activities that will contribute to reducing the negative impacts of floods all over the world.) Objectives The objectives of the International Flood Network (IFNet) are to reduce flood damage throughout the world, and to promote a policy aimed at decisively breaking the cycle of poverty and environmental destruction by facilitating international cooperation in flood management. To reduce the loss of life and damage caused by floods. To promote policies and practices that can break the vicious circle of poverty and environmental degradation and lead to a safe and sustainable future. Action Plan IFNet is engaged in the following activities as part of a plan to strengthen and raise the effectiveness of efforts undertaken all over the world to reduce flood damage. The plan calls for: Establishing a network for organizations involved in flood management Providing a platform for information exchange among members Compiling and transmitting flood-related information, and raising public awareness of the importance of the problem by such efforts as holding international conferences Developing a Global Flood Alert System (GFAS) and disseminating flood information.

IFNet is an open network. Anyone who agrees with its objectives can join. There are 351 registered IFNet participants 129 Organizations and 222 individuals as of March 31, 2005. This includes government and nongovernment organizations, international bodies, public corporations, private companies and educational institutions. Share your region s information, experiences and knowledge on floods with the world! Conventionally, the tendency has been to regard flood problems as being limited to specific regions. As a result, the efforts made by the various regions have not been sufficiently shared. For more effective flood management, it is important that flood countermeasures become more effective and that information on reducing the adverse social and environmental impacts of floods be shared beyond the limits of specific regions. At IFNet we solicit, collect, and disseminate information on floods from a wide range of sources. This includes information that is not reported in regular news. Persons and organizations that agree with our goals are invited to visit our Web site to download a membership form to fill out and return. We accept forms and information sent by e-mail. The IFNet flood information collection Web site is: http://www.internationalfloodnetwork.org/sendus.html.

Concrete Activities IFNet is a network of persons and organizations from all over the world that are involved in flood countermeasures. The functions of the network are designed to provide support for activities undertaken to reduce flood damage. To share as broadly as possible the lessons learned in flood-fighting and flood countermeasures in each country and region of the world, we not only report on actual flood disasters, damage incurred, and countermeasures taken immediately after the outbreak of a flood, we also study and report on subsequent measures taken to reduce damage (Plan), actions taken (Do), evaluations conducted (Check), and improvements made (Action). One concrete activity undertaken to reduce flood damage is the dissemination of flood-related information such as global rainfall levels, regional precipitation, and probability of rainfall. (See following page.) IFNet is moving ahead with efforts to strengthen cooperation with other organizations active in flood control and disaster prevention. This includes participation in other organizations'projects and in IFNet activities, including those related to disseminating information. We participate in international conferences and carry out other activities to spread recognition of the importance of the problem of flood disasters. Dissemination of information on floods in Japan and Japan s flood management and crisis management efforts Compiling and disseminating information received from members around the world Issuing reports on participation in international conferences Publishing a regular newsletter

GFAS project One of the IFNet activities undertaken to reduce flood damage is sending out Global Flood Alert System (GFAS) information. Utilizing rainfall data obtained by multiple global observation satellites, GFAS sends out information bulletins via IFNet to members. These bulletins contain advisory information such as amounts of rainfall in the world s river basins and reports indicating the probability of rainfall used to determine whether floods will occur. This service is expected to become a valuable source of information for issuing flood alerts, particularly in regions along large rivers where the water from rainfall in the upper regions of river basins will arrive downstream several days later, in areas that are not equipped with telemeters, and in international river systems where it is difficult to communicate information from upstream to areas downstream. Global map of regional rainfall (example: daily rainfall) Global rainfall map Map showing 1/10 chance of rain Areas exceeding 1/10 chance of rain Detailed maps for each region (example: South Asia)

We Welcome Your Registration and Participation At a time when large numbers of people are beginning to truly understand the gravity of problems related to floods, we can surely expect our surrounding environment to change. The aim of IFNet is to unite the abilities and efforts of everyone involved in flood countermeasures in order to protect our precious lives and property from flood disasters. IFNet is a network open to the participation of anyone who agrees with its basic goals. We urge everyone to participate and use the network to share experiences and information on the problem of flood disasters and to participate in our projects. Please feel free to copy the application form, fill it out, and fax it to us or visit our Web site to download the form and e-mail it back to us. To download the form, please visit our Web site: http://www.internationalfloodnetwork.org/ifnet_join_e.html Registration Form FAX:+81-3-3230-4030 I (individual) We (organization) will participate in the International Flood Network (IFNet) Name of applicant : Position / Occupation : Name of organization: Address: Telephone number : Fax number: E-mail address: URL: IFNet secretariat