1. University of Yamanashi 21st Century COE Invited Lecture, 24 November 2005
   On November 24, 2005 Dr. A. Ismail-Zadeh delivered a lecture “Extreme Natural Events: from Modeling and Prediction to Preventive Disaster Management” at the University of Yamanashi 21st Century COE in Kofu, Japan. He also met Prof. K. Takeuchi, Vice-President of the GeoRisk Commission, and they discussed further development of the GeoRisk Commission activities. Their joint paper on Preventive Disaster Management is to be published by EOS, AGU Transactions and submitted to journal of Natural Hazards.
   
   
2. 8th Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Earthquake Prediction, Miramare-Trieste, Italy, 3 - 15 October 2005
   The vulnerability of our civilization to large earthquakes is rapidly growing, raising earthquakes to the ranks of major threats faced by humankind. Earthquake prediction is necessary to reduce the threat by undertaking disaster-preparedness measures. The Eighth Workshop on Non-linear Dynamics and Earthquake Prediction was held in the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Miramare-Trieste
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   and dedicated to training in advanced methodologies of R&D in fundamental studies of the Earth's evolution and dynamics, of the instability of the Earth lithosphere, and in numerous applied problems, such as earthquake prediction, estimation and mitigation of possible seismic hazard, disaster risk management etc. The workshop, organized by SAND Group of the Centre and led by Prof. V. Keilis-Borok, University of California at Los Angeles (USA) and International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia), and Prof. G. Panza of University of Trieste (Italy), was endorsed by the IUGG Commission on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability and by the IASPEI Commission on Earthquake Hazard, Risk and Strong Motion. The Workshop participants represented 20 countries of Africa, America, Asia, and Europe.

   The workshop facilitated the link between theoretical and experimental researchers, adequately explaining new achievements in seismology to the wide audience of scientists and engineers, and giving a unified treatment of those methods of seismology that are currently used in interpreting actual data. Among practical aspects, large attention was given to the accuracy and statistical significance of prediction methods, their rate of errors, and to the interaction with disaster management authorities. Natural disasters related to dynamics of the solid Earth, atmosphere, and ocean were considered as critical transitions in complex non-linear hierarchical systems. A special session on disaster prediction and prevention aimed at bridging fundamental research, as reflected by the whole workshop program, and disaster management and prevention through adequate implementation strategies.



3. Marine Risk and Sustainability Session at “Dynamic Planet 2005”, 26 August, 2005, Cairns, Australia
   This outstandingly successful session at the 2005 IAPSO Scientific Assembly (called Dynamic Planet and held jointly with IAG and IABO- the International Association of Biological Oceanography) was given a new topicality and focus after the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and was convened by Dr. Tom Beer and Dr. Evgeny Kontar, GeoRisk Commissioners.
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   Dr. K. Satake, the Chair of the International Tsunami Commission, opened the session with his talk on “Lessons learned from the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and the Asian tsunami”. The tsunami theme was followed by a number of speakers. Prof. D. King from James Cook University who presented his work studying the vulnerability of communities subject to tsunamis and tropical cyclones. Dr. Y. Tyupkin from the Geophysical Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences presented his results using altimetry data to monitor tsunamis and submarine earthquakes. Dr. V. Morozov from the Shirsov Institute of Oceanology spoke on signal detection before earthquakes and tsunamis. Prof. C. Pattiaratchi of the University of Western Australia kindly filled in and described the recent tsunami event given his first-hand experience (being in Sri Lanka at the time), put it into historical context and gave a brief coastal engineering explanation of the tsunami phenomenon. Mr. R. Othman of the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia supplemented the tsunami component of the session with his poster “Towards the development of subsidence monitoring strategies for offshore platforms in Malaysian waters using GPS technique”.

   The second theme of the session was that related to coastal contamination from submarine groundwater. Detailed investigations in diverse geographic locations were presented by Prof. J. Zhang of Toyama University; Dr. C. Schrum of Schrum & Wehde Ecosystem Modeling; Prof. G. Kim and Ms J.-M. Lee of Seoul National University both gave oral presentations whereas Ms Y.-L. Hong and Mr Y.-W. Lee of the same university presented posters entitled: “Nutrient fluxes through Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) in the coastal seas of Korea Peninsula” and “Outbreak of red tides under conditions of inorganic nutrient limitation: shipboard observation and real-time monitoring results in the southern sea of Korea” respectively. Prof. M. Schlueter of the Alfred Wegener Institut described the linkage Between Coast and Sea by Sub-Seafloor Aquifers by looking at the Risks associated with use of Coastal Groundwater.

   The third theme of the session was sustainability issues. Three speakers from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research made presentations: Dr. D. McDonald gave a keynote presentation on Management Strategy Evaluation for Coastal Regions; Dr. T. Beer gave the international perspective on Marine Risk and Sustainability, and Dr. E. Grist spoke on the toxicity of copper on a marine copepod. Dr. F. Rack, Director of the JOI Deep Sea Drilling Programme also gave an invited presentation on “An Evaluation of Risks from Natural and Human-induced Hazards Relating to Continental Margin Processes using Scientific Ocean Drilling and Ocean Observatories”. European perspectives were provided by Dr. E. Kontar with his talk on “Assessment of Maritime Geophysical Risks” and Prof. E. Stanev of the University of Sofia in Bulgaria who reviewed past and present catastrophes in shelf and semi-enclosed seas. Dr. R. Islam, who has recently published a profile of the coastal zone of Bangladesh, spoke on Marine resources, sustainable livelihoods and associated risks in the Bangladeshi context. His talk complemented that of Mr. J. De of the Indian National Institute Of Oceanography on mercury-resistant bacteria in deeper zones in the Bay of Bengal. The final paper of the session was given by Dr. F. Wang of the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy Of Sciences who looked at the Annual to Decadal Variability of the Hydrologic Environment and Its Relationship with Fish Catches in the East China Sea.



4. The 2nd International Conference of The Nigerian Union of Planetary and Radio Sciences (NUPRS), 24-26 August, 2006
   The Conference was held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on 24 – 26 August 2005. Over 500 participants took part in the Conference. The IUGG GeoRisk Commision’s Lecture “Tsunami Disaster” that served as a keynote address, was delivered on behalf of Dr. A. Ismail-Zadeh (Commission’s President) by Prof. S.C. Teme (LOC Chairman). This Lecture formed the basis for the Conference. Over forty papers were presented by Nigerian scientists at technical sessions during the Conference. IUGG sectional meetings were organized during the Conference. The 2007 NUPRS Conference will be held in Abuja, the Federal Capital City of Nigeria.
   
   
5. IUGG/UNESCO/AGU International Workshop "Recent Geodynamics, Georisk and Sustainable Development of the Black Sea to Caspian Sea Region", 3-6 July, 2005
   The 4th Advanced Research Workshop organized by the IUGG Commission on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability in association with the International Hydrological Program of UNESCO, American Geophysical Union, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 3 to 6 July 2005. About fifty scientists from 12 countries attended, and 19 invited speakers delivered talks at the workshop. The workshop was supported by IUGG, UNESCO, and ExxonMobil Company.
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   The Workshop brought people of natural, social and political sciences together with the representatives of industry, governments, and mass media to prepare the social and political background for sustainable development in the Black Sea to Caspian Sea region. The invited and contributed presentations dealt with the recent geodynamics of the region, natural hazards (earthquakes, mud volcanoes, landslides, rapid sea level changes), associated risks, and mitigation of the impacts of geohazards on society. The Program and Abstracts of the Workshop can be downloaded from here.

   Peer-reviewed Workshop papers are to be published by the American Institute of Physics in early 2006. The Workshop participants adopted recommendations to governments, relevant UN agencies, ICSU bodies, and funding institutions. The text of the Baku Workshop's recommendations can be found at this location.

   The Workshop participants visited active mud volcanoes of the Absheron peninsula, Azerbaijan. Despite their present "peaceful" activity, dynamics of mud volcanoes is quite complicated. One of the mud volcano's eruption in the middle of XXth century is considered as a large event: gas and mud fountain from the Earth's interior rose to about 1000 m above the orifice of the volcano, and a big area was covered by mud lavas.

   Photos of the Workshop can be found here



6. IGOS Geohazards Workshop
   The IGOS Geohazards Bureau organised and hosted an International Geohazards Workshop which took place from 27th to 29th June 2005 at the bureau’s host institution, the BRGM (French Geological Survey) in Orléans, France.
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   This Workshop brought together over 50 experts from across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa to work toward improving the mitigation of Geohazards. IUGG GeoRisk Commission was invited to contribute to the Workshop. Dr. A. Ismail-Zadeh, President of the Commission, attended the Workshop and delivered a lecture entitled: "Computational Geodynamics and Earthquake Prediction as Research Tools for Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis". The lecture is to be placed on the web-page. He also attended the meetings of the IGOS Geohazards Working Group "Science – Long-term fundamental science with potential application to the geohazards observations" to define a work program of the IGOS Geohazards for the next three years.


7. AOGS Annual Meeting
   Asia-Oceania Geoscience Society (AOGS), a newly founded non-governmental regional association of geoscientists in Asia and Oceania, held its second annual meeting from 20th to 24th June 2005 in Singapore. Dr. Z. Wu, GeoRisk Commissioner and Vice-President of IASPEI, was invited to deliver a public lecture entitled: "Facing Earthquake-Generated Tsunami: Roles of Scientific Knowledge in the Reduction of Natural Disasters". He was representing the IUGG and IASPEI Commissions on the meeting. The lecture is to be published by World Scientific Publisher.
   
   
8. Press Conference at the European Geoscience Union General Assembly
   The Commission was invited to the Press Conference on Sumatra mega-earthquake and tsunami held in Vienna, Austria, on April 26, 2005 during the General Assembly of the European Geoscience Union (EGU). Dr. V. Kossobokov, GeoRisk Commissioner, represented the Commission and took part in discussions on earthquake prediction.

ICSU Proposals
The Commission submitted two new ICSU project proposals, but unfortunately, both were unsuccessful:

1. Geohazards: Extreme Natural Events and Societal ImplicationS – GENESIS (led by IUGG / GeoRisk Commission). Supporting partners of the project proposal are: Geoscience Unions (International Union of Geological Sciences, International Geographical Union, International Union of Soil Sciences, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing), Interdisciplinary Bodies / Initiatives (Integrated Global Observing Strategy – Geohazards, Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative, International Consortium on Landslides).
2. The Role of Science and Data in Disaster Risk Management (led by ICSU CODATA). Supporting partner: IUGG / GeoRisk Commission.

GeoScience Unions Initiatives
The GeoSciences Unions of ICSU (namely IGU, IUGS, IUSS, IUGG) met in Paris in February 2004 and in Boulder in September 2004. They determined five topics for further action. One of these topics is Hazards, and IUGG agreed to lead action on this topic. Dr. Tom Beer has been asked to co-ordinate action on this. An IYPE brochure on the topic, that outlines four key research questions has been published by IUGS. See here.

The GeoUnions Initiative Joint Science Team on Hazards met during the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe 18-22 January 2005. Twenty invitees attended this meeting, which also functioned as a planning meeting (run by Gordon McBean) for an ICSU programme on Natural Hazards.

A positive and exciting outcome of the meeting was an offer from Hormoz Modaressi for BRGM (France) to host a project office for the GeoUnions Hazards Initiative. They already host the IGOS Geohazards Bureau. The Commission looks forward to the possibility of the IGOS Geohazards program becoming a strong part of the GeoUnions initiative.

Statement of the IUGG GeoRisk Commission on the Great Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 26 December 2004
A magnitude 9 great earthquake occurred on December 26, 2004 off the west coast of northern Sumatra, South Asia. Huge tsunamis were triggered by this great earthquake, and the coastal zones around the Indian Ocean were assailed by these tsunamis. More than 300,000 people lost their lives in a dozen countries, 500,000 were injured, and up to 5 million are lacking for basic services. As a response to the great tragedy, the IUGG Commission on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability adopted on January 7, 2005 the Statement "Greatest Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami of the Early XXI Century and the Need for Urgent Action to Reduce the Effects of Natural Disasters in the Indian Ocean Region and Elsewhere".

The full text of the Statement can be downloaded from here.

Based on the Statement of the IUGG GeoRisk Commission, on 10th January 2005 IUGG issued a resolution on the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami.

In the light of these tragic events in the Indian Ocean, on 17th January 2005 ICSU produced a Position Statement based also on the materials of the Statement of the IUGG GeoRisk Commission.