Conferences and Congresses

International Symposium on Latest Natural Disasters – New Challenges for Engineering Geology,
Geotechnics and Civil Protection

The International Symposium on Latest Natural Disasters – New Challenges for Engineering Geology, Geotechnics and Civil Protection took place on September 5-8, 2005 in Sofia, Bulgaria).

This forum was held under the aegis of International Association for Engineering Geology and Environment (IAEG) and was organized by the Bulgarian national group IAEG (under the leadership of its chairman Ass. Prof. K. Anguelov), the Bulgarian national group of ISSMGE, and the Bulgarian State Ageny for Civil Protection. The Symposium was held under the patronage of Mr.Georgi Parvanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria .

The Symposium covered the following topics:

• History and Geography of the Latest Natural Disasters;
• State Policy for Protection of the Population from Disasters;
• Engineering Geology Investigations in Disaster-Struck Areas;
• Hazard and Risk Assessment in Disaster-Struck Areas;
• Projects and Constructions in Disaster-Struck Areas;
• Case Studies. Conclusions and Recommendations.

About 200 specialists from more than 20 countries attended this symposium, including Austria , Bulgaria , Brazil , France , Italy , Portugal , Finland , Sweden , Germany , Poland , China , Japan , S. Korea , Greece , Croatia , Serbia , Montenegro , Macedonia , Romania , Slovenia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Turkey , Russia , Ukraine , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan .

The meeting was honored by IAEG Past Presidents Prof. Paul Marinos ( Greece ), Prof. Ricardo Oliveira ( Portugal ), and Prof. Marcel Arnould ( France ). Among other prominent scientists, the Congress was attended by Prof. U. Uusinoka ( Finland ), Prof. C. Marountjanou ( Romania ), Dr. D. Morfeldt ( Sweden ), Ass. Prof. G. Lollino ( Italy ), etc.

The Russian delegation included representatives from research, project, and production institutions of Moscow , St. Petersburg, Perm , Arkhangelsk , Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk , and other cities.

The Russian delegation was headed by the Chairman of the IAEG Russian national group, Director of IEG RAS academician Victor Osipov. IEG RAS delegation consisted of 9 persons, who delivered the following reports:

1. Osipov, V.I. “Natural Hazards as the Urban Development Factor”;
2. Osipov V.I., Eremina, O.N., Rumyantseva, N.A. Present-Day Challenges in Natural Disaster Management: from Yokohama to Kobe (Review of WCDR Materials);
3. Ragozin, A.L. “The main Indices, Criteria, and Methods of Natural Disasters Risk Assessment
4. Osipov, V.I., Eremina. O.N., Filimonov , S.D. , and Snezhkin, B.A. The use of “Geocomposite” Method for Providing Stability of Landslide Slopes
5. Kutepov, V.M., Anisimova, N.G., Kozhevnikova, I.A., and Kozlyakova, I.V. Assessment of Karst Hazard in Moscow ;
6. Frolova, N.I., Larionov, V.I., Ranguelov, B. Existing Systems for Loss Estimation in “Emeergency” Mode and Possible Ways to Increase Their Reliability;
7. Frolova, N.I., Larionov, V.I., Besperstova, N.A., Frolov V.B. Seismic Vulnerability of Building Stock in Global Los Assessment due to Earthquakes in “Emergency” Mode

The post-congress technical excursion along the highway “Hemus” connecting Sofia and Varna was organized for the Symposium participants. The participants of the Symposium got acquainted with the main engineering geological problems arising along the highway due to the development of gravitational exogenic processes and their engineering solutions aimed at slope stabilization.