10 August 2018
For the second year, UNESCO office in Almaty will support the organization of a summer school for post-graduate students, including from Central Asian countries, to undertake field studies in rockslide research. The summer school, which will gather together students from Central Asia and abroad, will take place in Kokomeren valley, Kyrgyzstan from 15-th to 30-th August 2018. This initiative, supported by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), based in Kyoto University, Japan and UNESCO office in Almaty, is organized by the Institute of Seismology of Kyrgyz Republic. Mr Alexander Strom, Chief expert of the Geodynamics Research Centre, Russian Federation, with long-standing experience in geohazard research and risk reduction, will supervise the field work.
Rockslides (bedrock landslides) are among the most hazardous natural phenomena in mountainous regions, such as Central Asia. They threaten large areas due to the enormous amount of material involved, high mobility of debris and ability to create large natural dams, which result in inundation of the valleys upstream and catastrophic outburst floods downstream. The summer school is expected to help understanding better this natural phenomena to put in place appropriate disaster risk reduction measures.UNESCO, as the only UN agency with the mandate to promote geosciences, gives special attention to the studies of geohazards across the world, including in Central Asia region, and provides advice and policies for disaster risk reduction based on sound scientific data and knowledge. Capacity building of young researchers who study natural catastrophic phenomena, is within the priority scope for UNESCO Natural Sciences programme, including in Central Asia, which is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/unesco-supports-young-scientists-in-landslide-research