Geohazards
Increasing numbers of natural disasters shed a light on the importance of dealing with geohazards and demand a more preventative natural disaster risk management.
Current projects
Over the past few decades, the number of documented natural events with high casualty and material damage has multiplied. Triggers include geological hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides or soil subsidence. As our Earth and climate systems are interlinked, climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of natural events, often with catastrophic consequences for human populations.
At the same time, human vulnerability is increasing due to rapid population growth, dense settlements and overexploitation of natural resources. While in many industrialised countries insurances and social security systems provide essential support to cope with such events, many partner countries of the German Development Cooperation are particularly affected by natural disaster emergencies: around 85% of disaster victims live in the world's poorest countries. The destruction of infrastructure, arable land, the loss of jobs and homes, often lead to the collapse of entire livelihoods, exacerbating poverty, homelessness and inadequate access to basic services. In many countries, state structures and capacities to mitigate these effects are lacking, leaving people largely to fend for themselves.
The immediate loss and damage caused by natural disasters is increasing worldwide, but so is the understanding of their long-term socioeconomic impacts. This has led to a paradigm shift in disaster management. The focus does no longer solely rely on responding to the aftermath of a natural disaster, instead, more attention flows on identifying potential risks in ahead of time and minimizing them from the outset. Prevention is therefore increasingly taking center stage.
In this context, the technical cooperation projects of BGR support partner institutions in applying geoscientific methods for both qualitative and quantitative (risk) analyses, with the aim of targeted integration of the results into disaster risk management. Through mutual exchange, advisory services, and training, partner professionals continue to enhance their expertise for an improved disaster risk management while BGR experts learn about the specific challenges and solution approaches in the partner countries.
Together the two partner organisations develop concepts based on scientifically sound assessments of geohazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, or ground movements. Practical applications include risk-sensitive spatial planning, the evaluation of building ground suitability for construction sites, and the development of disaster preparedness strategies. For example, the methods can be transferred for site assessment of waste disposal facilities and awareness-raising measures for non-governmental stakeholders.
Through this practice-oriented approach, the capacities of the responsible authorities are strengthened, and scientific findings are integrated into sustainable planning and decision-making processes to mitigate the impact of future natural events.
