With the technical support from Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE), IRDR organised the Field Work on Disaster Monitoring and Recovery after the Chengdu Meeting.

The field work consists of two parts: the Longchi Town ( the Longxi River Catchment) and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System.

Longchi Town which located next to the Longchi National Park was severely damaged after the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008. As the mainstay of the local economy, recovery and rebuild of this town were the urgent and essential requirement to provide accommodation and livelihood to the local residents. However, the reconstructed town was severely damaged due to the subsequent mountain hazards right after its completion in 2010, which is 2 years after the earthquake. The aims for visiting this site are to learn the technical solutions of disaster monitoring and prevention that led by Prof. CUI Peng (IRDR SC member and PI of the IRDR Flagship Project SiDRR) and his colleagues/students from IMHE and to witness the lessons of recovery and land use planning for in mountainous region after major earthquake event.

There are several highlights in the DRR work of this park that attracted the participants. 1) Different types of dams were constructed in some main gullies and successfully prevents the sediment transport into the river due to debris flow/flash floods, and reduced the risk to the water reservoir and hydropower dam downstream.  2) The river was subsequently diverted and the riverbed was reshaped after every debris flow/flash flood. 3) The building standards were raised after the Wenchuan Earthquake. Therefore, their structures can withstand the impact for debris flow/flash flood. Buildings were buried by debris but structurally intact.  (see the photo).

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System was originally constructed around 256 BC as an irrigation and flood control project which is still functional today. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The infrastructure benefits the cities and villages by eliminating flood and ensuring a regular and bountiful harvest. In addition, it survived from the historical hazards as well as the Wenchuan earthquake 2008. It is truly the miracle of the engineering projects.

Participants learned the vivid DRR knowledge and experiences from this field trip. IRDR sincerely appreciated the contributions from the IMHE team (especially Assi. Prof. LEI Yu and Dr. ZHANG Guotao) for their marvellous guidebook and interpretation.