More than 700 participants registered for the Interdisciplinary Symposium on Adaptation and Local Management of Disaster Risk held May 25-27, 2015 at the National University in Manizales, Colombia.

Participants are gathering from the region as well as Europe and North America to discuss and reflect on the state of the art in disaster management practice and the specific experience of the city of Manizales which is considered as one of the most advanced in disaster management in the region. The Manizales symposium will be closely followed in Bogota by the 7th National Congress on Earthquake Engineering. The IRDR National Committee colleagues and those in the IRDR ICoE will be sharing their work.

During the most recent meeting of IRDR’s governing body, the Science Committee (SC) called for building stronger links between ICoE’s and NC’s, and SC member Dr. Omar Cardona has heeded that call. Colombia’s International Center of Excellence (ICoE) on Understanding Risk and Safety is trans-disciplinary and encourages integrated research on disaster risk and safety for the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Colombia’s “IRDR National Committee of Disaster Risk Knowledge” is an integral part of the National System for Disaster Risk Management which was created when 2012’s Law 1523 updated, harmonized and modernized the former National System of Disaster Prevention and Attention.