International Conference on Building Resilience

• Date: Tuesday 17 September 2013 9.00am - Thursday 19 September 2013 5.00pm
• Venue/Location: Heritance Ahungalla, Sri Lanka
• Event type: Conferences
• Description:

  Communities around the world are faced with the threat of disasters on a daily basis. National governments, local government associations, international, regional and civil society organisations, donors, the private sector, academia and professional associations as well as every citizen need to be engaged in reducing their risk to disasters. All these stakeholders must play their part in contributing to building disaster resilient communities.

  The 2013 International Conference on Building Resilience, organised by the University of Salford’s Centre for Disaster Resilience, will encourage debate on individual, institutional and societal coping strategies to address the challenges associated with disaster risk. The conference will be held at Heritance Ahungalla, on Sri Lanka's southwest coast. As a country subject to several large-scale disasters in recent years, including the 2004 Tsunami and a civil war spanning several decades, Sri Lanka provides an ideal setting to explore the challenge of creating resilient communities and cities.

  This event will build upon the successful 2011 International Conference on Building Resilience, which was held in Dambulla, Sri Lanka. The 2011 conference was held in association with the launch of The Making Cities Resilient: 'My City is getting ready!' campaign, which addresses issues of local governance and urban risk. The 2013 Conference will support the campaign focus areas up to 2015, including city-to-city learning and capacity building, and an emphasis on partnerships.

  Call for research papers, practice notes and case studies

  Abstracts are invited that address the conference themes indicated here. In particular, national and local government need better access to policies and tools to effectively deal with disasters and engage diverse stakeholder groups. Urban risk reduction provides opportunities for capital investments through infrastructure upgrades and improvements, building retrofits for energy efficiency and safety, urban renovation and renewal, cleaner energies, and slum upgrading.

  Local governments are the closest level of government to citizens and their communities. They play the first role in responding to crises and emergencies. They deliver essential services to their citizens, such as health, education, transport and water services, which need to be made resilient to disasters.

  Timeline:

  • Abstracts submission: 7 December 2012
  • Accepted abstracts notification: 15 December 2012
  • Full paper submissions: 28 February 2013
  • Conference registration opens: 1 March 2013
  • Camera ready papers: 15 June 2013

  For more information, please see the conference website.

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