May 10, 2024 | By Audrei Anne Ybañez, UP NOAH Center and Richard Ybañez, Education Office
Research work of the UP Resilience Institute was presented in this year’s European Geosciences Union General Assembly held in Vienna, Austria last 14-19 April 2024. Ms. Audrei Anne B. Ybañez of the UP NOAH Center and Mr. Richard L. Ybañez of the Education Office each presented research work on natural hazards in the different thematic sessions of the conference.
This year, the EGU General Assembly hosted nearly 21,000 registered attendees and served as a platform for nearly 19,000 presentations across more than 1,000 scientific sessions with oral, poster, or PICO modalities. Session themes covered a broad range of disciplines in the earth and planetary sciences with UPRI researchers actively participating in select sessions on natural hazards and multihazards, climate change, disaster risk, and science education.
Audrei Anne Ybañez of the UP NOAH Center was first to present their research entitled Assessment of Coastal Concrete Structures Exposed to Extreme Weather Conditions using Concrete Petrography (ASTM C856) on the first day of the conference last 16 April as a PICO (Presenting Interactive Content) presentation in the session Climate Change Effects on Coastal Urban Areas: Tools and and Methods to Address Climate Resilience.
The session was well attended and began with a 2-minute flash presentation of the research overview. This was followed by an open and interactive presentation at designated PICO stations with touch screen monitors to allow for in-depth discussions with interested researchers.
Researchers from China, Italy, and other European countries also approached for more detailed discussions and questions. During these discussions, it became apparent that many of the concrete problems experienced in the Philippines were not present in Europe due to the difference in climate and extreme weather conditions. This highlights deterioration states in concrete that do not show up in concrete in temperate climates.
Mr. Ybañez, on the last day of the conference, presented his work entitled A Systematic Overview of Hazard Interrelationships in the Philippines in the session Multi-hazard risk assessments: Innovative approaches for disaster risk reduction, management, and climate change adaptation.
The study was presented orally, after which a question and answer session followed. Questions focused on new and unique multi-hazard occurrences that have been identified in the Philippines that have not yet been seen in other parts of the world, the contextualization of Philippine multi-hazard definitions to the UNDRR definitions, and the value of the research in visualizing hazard cascades. Mr. Ybañez was also approached after the session by researchers from Singapore and the Netherlands to inquire more about the sources for hazard databases being populated for the Philippines
There was also ample opportunity to network with old and new collaborators. Richard and Audrei also met up with graduates of the University of the Philippines, now based in foreign universities, to offer avenues for collaboration and continued contribution to local research.
The conference also provided a platform for the continuing development of closer collaboration with the Durham University Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience, with which the UPRI is pursuing the establishment of a formal partnership. This would enable the conduct of joint research, researcher exchange, and knowledge sharing between the two institutions. DU IHRR is represented by Dr. Bruce Malamud, its director and expert on multihazards.
Know more about EGU 2024 at www.egu24.eu and Durham University Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience at https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/hazard-risk-resilience/.