Epicenter Encounters

De La Salle University (Manila) faculty members – Dr. Lessandro Garciano, Dr. Andres W. Oreta, and Engr. Richard De Jesus, together with Engr. Dexter Lo from Xavier University (CDO) participated in UCL-hosted conference “Epicenter Encounters” last July 2 to 3, 2019, at University College London (UCL), HereEast Campus in London.

Epicenter Encounter was the gathering of UCL network of international collaborators, industrial collaborators and co-researchers to discuss current and future directions of disaster risk and resilience. It was also a venue for networking with colleagues all over the world whose expertise and research of interest are into earthquake engineering, and disaster risk and resilience management. During the event, representatives from different sectors presented their experiences in implementing and assessing disaster and risk resilience of built structures as well as communities. As part of PRISMH research project with UCL as its international collaborator, this event had been a venue for our project to present some of its experiences and accomplishment. Dr. Oreta gave a keynote presentation during this event. Together with Dr. Amaratunga from University of Huddersfield, they talked about “Localising strategies for making cities resilient”. Engr. Dexter Lo presented about Cagayan De Oro being hailed as a resilient city, yet is at risk to multiple natural hazards, particularly to flooding.

This two-day conference was comprised of poster presentations, keynote lectures, and break-out sessions for various oral presentations from various participants. The topics of presentations and lectures focused on the following themes: (1) methods for multi-hazard risk assessment and resilience, (2) transformative technologies for improved decision-making, (3) innovation in disaster risk and resilience, and (4) community resilience. In between sessions, participants were given a chance to promote collaboration among participants over coffee and snacks.