This project fits with the rapidly growing interest in disaster research at ARI and elsewhere at NUS. This growing activity is also very timely as there is strong evidence that disasters of many kinds are on the rise in Asia. At two sites in Asia, namely the Ping River catchment in Thailand and the Upper Ganga catchment in India, the following research questions will be answered during the project:
1. Is the hazard of large floods increasing and can palaeoflood records be used with gauged data to provide robust estimates of the probability of flood threat?
2. Is the vulnerability of human populations to large floods increasing and, if so, why?
3. Can changes in the respective roles of hazard and vulnerability be determined through time to provide a deeper understanding of the changing nature of flood risk?
In addition we will examine the possibility of generalization to other locations in Asia based on: relationships between long flood histories and background climatic state and a test in Asia of methods developed in Europe for estimating loss of life due to floods.
Conference Convenors
Prof Robert Wasson
Asia Research Institute,
National University of Singapore
Secretariat
Jonathan Lee
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
E-mail: jonathan.lee@nus.edu.sg
