SEASON'S GREETING
Dear members of FFP Steering Committee, dear colleagues and friends,
As 2020 is coming to its end, without hesitation, we can say that 2020 has been an unprecedentedly challenging and stressful year for everyone. With the COVID pandemic, our daily lives and work have changed drastically. Hopefully, we will come back to our normal lives soon in 2021 with efficient vaccines.
In addition to the virus, natural disasters have also caused severe damages and casualties. Flash flood events occurred in numerous locations worldwide, and the number of victims remains high despite deployed mitigation efforts. On October 29th, 2020, jointly initiated by China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) and Université Côte d’Azur (UCA), the Flash Flood Program (FFP) has been officially launched with the ambition to raise public awareness about the flash flood and to develop and promote guidelines and best practices. Our committee gathers more than 40 experts in flash flood prevention who share the same commitment to improving flash flood disaster management.
To better share information and activities, we established an interim website (http://www.qgshzh.com/ffpindex?newstype=2) and will keep it enriched and renewed with valuable content. Meanwhile, with our two successful webinars that have attracted over 1,100 audiences, we can see the growing world focus on flash floods.
All the webinar sessions are now available on the website and can be shared widely (http://www.qgshzh.com/list/ffp/2/27?newstype=2). As is conceivable, this online communication imposed by the pandemic situation will continue in 2021 and will address both technical topics and practical experience. In parallel, FFP will increase social media presence – LinkedIn; Twitter and WeChat - in order to ensure a widespread of our activities.
To conclude this message, let us use this opportunity to wish you a Very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year!
Dr. Philippe Gourbesville & Dr. Jing Peng,
Steering Committee Chairs.
