Advanced course in assessment and management of geological risk (CERG)

Context
The combination of frequently occurring natural phenomena (hazards) and the exponential growth of world population in urban and rural areas (exposed element and vulnerability) can cause very large natural disasters affecting very large numbers of people. In order to reduce impacts on the long term, it is of prime importance to build capacity inside countries affected by disasters.

Goals of the CERG
The goals of the CERG include:

• Creating an expertise in the field of natural risk mitigation as a contribution to sustainable development;
• Offering a multidisciplinary management approach in the search of solutions for a society confronted with natural risks; and
• Training experts who can advise the public and private sectors to take preventive measures which can reduce the impact of natural disasters.

Consequently this course is designed to be of interest to professional and scientists from a wide background including geologists, civil engineers, physical geographers, social scientists or other field specialists. Participants typically come from governmental, non-governmental, international organizations or private institutions.

Contents
This course includes 5 modules, i.e. Risk management, volcanic risk, seismic risk, risk related to floods and climate change and landslide risk.

Time frame
This course takes place over 9 weeks at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, including field risk assessment and runs each year from April to June and is completed with an applied research in the domain of risk in the home country. For this session (April 20 – June 19, 2009), CERG has selected 20 candidates from various countries. Among them, there are participants from Algeria, Vietnam, Venezuela and Cameroun.

Contact person :
In Geneva
Dr. Corine Frischknecht, CERG coordinator, University of Geneva, Section of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 13, rue des Maraîchers, 1205 Geneva
Tel : +41 22 379 66 02, fax : +41 22 379 32 10
Email : corine.frischknecht©unige.ch / web : http://www.unige.ch/hazards

Participant’s Institution
In Venezuela
FUNVISIS - Fundación Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismológicas
Final Prolongación Calle Mara, Quinta Funvisis, Urbanización El Llanito
Caracas 1030, Estado Miranda, VENEZUELA
http://www.funvisis.org.ve/

In Algeria
CGS – Centre national de recherche appliquée en génie parasismique
Rue kaddour rahim prolongéé, H-Dey
16040 Alger
Web : http://www.cgs-dz.org/

In Vietnam
Vietnam national remote sensing center
108 Chua Lang Street, Dong Da
Hanoi
Web : http://www.rsc.gov.vn

In Cameroon
University of Yaounde I Department of Earth Sciences Laboratory of Magmatism and Environment P.O. Box 812 Yaounde-Cameroon