at the invitation of professor yang yongchun and young researchers ma weijian of the college of earth and environmental sciences of lanzhou university and the key laboratory of western china's ministry of environment and education, professor boris braun of the university of cologne, germany, will conduct academic exchange and online academic report on october 24, 2022.
speaker: prof. dr. boris braun, university of cologne, germany
topic: the 2021 flood in germany and failing hazard management - what can we learn?
host: ma weijing, young researcher, college of earth and environmental sciences, lanzhou university
time: october 24, 2022 (monday), 16:00-17:30
zoom conference number: 922 8806 5792 password: 095884
conference link:
expert introduction:
dr. boris braun is a professor of human and economic geography, department of geography, university of cologne, and one of the pis of the global south study center (gssc), cologne. his research interests are environmental economic geography, environmental management, industrial and urban change; environmental and social impacts of globalization, economic and social aspects of natural hazards in south asia (mainly india and bangladesh), southeast asia (mainly indonesia), australia, germany, and western europe. prof. braun is the speaker of several associations, including the natural science graduate schools of the university of cologne and the review board of the german research foundation (dfg fachkollegium 317 “geographie”). he is also the chairman of the association for geography at german-speaking universities and research institutions.
abstract:
climate change will lead us to expect more frequent and severe natural disasters in the future. the flood disaster in western germany in july 2021 claimed 180 lives and destroyed many buildings and infrastructure. this was the most severe damage caused by an extreme natural event in germany since 1962. above all, the disaster showed how vulnerable even a relatively prosperous and infrastructurally highly developed country can be. the lecture will briefly outline the course of the disaster and then discuss how it was possible for essential parts of disaster management and many political decision-makers to fail and what lessons can be learned from the event.
