FLOODS & SUDS
Mapping tools can create scenarios to assess flooding impact
Mobilising efforts to tackle floods
Brand newtechnology developed by the University of Salford is helping tackle flood risk in the UK by enabling greater prediction of threat levels and closer communication between authorities, practitioners, and local communities.
Experts fromthe university have been working with GreaterManchester Local Resilience Forum, Ordnance Survey, and Salford City Council to help predict flooding events using the specially developedMOBILISE digital platform, a multi-stakeholder collaboration environment for building resilient communities for a sustainable future.
MOBILISE, developed by the University’s THINKlab, gathers information fromthe Earth Observation groups, river sensor networks, real-time weather information services, hazard simulation services, and local communities to present data in an innovative virtual environment, to ensure that everyone working on the problemhas an accurate picture of the local risks and to foster greater collaboration for building
resilience against natural disasters.
TheMOBILISE digital platformsupports multiple agencies involved in disaster management to capture a highly accurate picture of an incident andmanage their response strategies accordingly. The platformis capable ofmapping social, infrastructure, economic, and natural vulnerabilities for a defined hazard or set of hazards, allowing agencies to work together to reduce such vulnerabilities and build resilience. It can also be used to understand the cascading impact of hazard events on networked critical infrastructure, the community and the economy.
Professor Terrence Fernando, Director of THINKlab at the University of Salford, said: “Thanks to the availability of data fromthe Ordnance Survey, withMOBILISE we were able to demonstrate how the value of geospatial data can be realised for collaborative resilience building, community engagement, andmulti-agency training and exercises and inspire other government agencies around the world.”
Platforms such asMOBILISE demonstrate the power of data in responding to natural disasters and extreme weather emergencies, all of which will become more frequent and destructive with climate change. By coordinating relevant parties andmerging information rapidly via authoritativemapping expertise, effective decisions can bemade and lives protected.
Another advantage ofMOBILISE is its ability to run possible hazard scenarios before they happen to get ameasure of the devastation they can cause and identify pre-emptive actions to reduce their impact on the built and natural environment. Such scenario planning can help to strengthenmulti-agency training for disaster response, implement resilient building programmes, and install early warning systems for the most vulnerable communities. It is the key to building amore resilient society to respond to emerging climate-induced threats.
draintraderltd.com/magazine 52 | July 2023 |
www.draintraderltd.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
