ISNET/SUPARCO/CNCT/ICESCO Workshop on Multi Hazard Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (MHVRA); 7-11 Nov 2022, Tunis, Tunisia

(1) ISNET, in collaboration with Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), Centre National de la Cartographie et de la Télédétection (CNCT) and Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), organised a workshop on “Multi Hazard Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (MHVRA)” from 7-11 Nov 2022, in Tunis, Tunisia.
(2) Keeping in view the increasing exposure of disasters and importance of MHVRA, a series of training workshops on conduct of MHVRA study for various hazards affecting Member States of ISNET are being arranged under the aegis of ISNET. As Tunisia is largely affected by floods and droughts, causing health, economic and social development concerns, therefore, ISNET organized the first workshop of the series in Tunisia in collaboration with CNCT and ICESCO. The workshop was divided into two segments based on the disaster types. The first segment covered Flood Vulnerability and Risk Assessment and the second segment discussed Drought Vulnerability and Risk Assessment. The workshop covered intensive series of lecture-based seminar, followed by hands-on training on different software and tools and provided valuable insight and important knowledge on the MHVRA. The following major topics were covered in the workshop:
(a) Concepts of Satellite Remote Sensing, Geographical Information System, flood mapping and modelling and drought assessment
(b) Data sources and acquisition and extraction of required data
(c) Techniques for development of Geo-database including water resources, hydraulic infrastructures, landuse / landcover and other ancillary datasets for flood
(d) Introduction to HEC-RAS and HEC-GeoHMS, 1-D and 2-D flow modelling techniques
(e) Flood mapping, monitoring and identification of floodplain d-risk areas using satellite data, Vulnerability mapping for flood and Flood risk assessment
(f) Data Preparation for Meteorological Drought (SPI) and Agriculture Drought (TVDI), drought hazard mapping, vulnerability mapping for drought and drought risk assessment
(g) Identification of prone areas with respect to flood and drought
(3) The workshop received an over whelming international response and following officials participated; Bangladesh – 1, Egypt – 1, Iran- 1, Iraq – 1, Libya – 1, Pakistan – 3, South Korea-1, Tunisia – 30
(4) The workshop resulted in a forum for education, knowledge-transfer, development of new skills and professional development in MHVRA. Around 06x papers were presented and more than 50x participants attended the workshop. The workshop provided a forum for Inter-Islamic space community to share recent advancements/ technological achievements in the field of space sciences and engineering with particular focus on MHVRA.