Floods are the most frequent among all natural disasters, and the Asia and Pacific region is particularly vulnerable. Climate change and variability are expected to bring about increased typhoon activities, rising sea levels, and out-of-phase monsoon seasons in South East Asia and other regions, endangering the lives and health of nearby populations and causing serious losses in people's livelihoods, including food and livestock. In the past 30 years, floods in Asia accounted for about 40 per cent of the worldwide total. Floods have tremendous socio-economic impact, reflected mainly through delayed development. Floods can cause losses both to the gross domestic product (GDP) and to capital stock, thus hampering the growth potential of the country. Moreover, these losses also have a long-term impact on the macro-economy. Capital damages induce a lower GDP in subsequent years (to the extent of investment losses), output losses (caused during the flood-affected year), lower incomes, and may possibly reduce the savings available for financing investments.
The 1st Coordination Meeting for RAS5069: Complementing Conventional Approaches with Nuclear Techniques towards Flood Risk Mitigation and Post-Flood Rehabilitation Efforts in Asia was held at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna from 10-13 June 2014. HE Ambassador Thiep Nguyen from Viet Nam opened the meeting together with Dr. Ali Boussaha, Director for the Division for Asia and the Pacific, Technical Cooperation Department, IAEA. This meeting introduced innovative nuclear techniques used in flood mitigation and rehabilitation. These techniques take full advantage of four components: Crop, Soil and Water Management, Plant Mutation Breeding, Animal Health and Production, and Isotope Hydrology.
The purpose of the meeting was to develop guidelines for the adaptation of agricultural production systems, effective on-farm water conservation, improved land, water and farm management practices, and to fulfil additional needs for post-flood rehabilitation efforts. More specifically, a detailed project work plan was devised, with an agreement on group training activities for each year until 2017. The meeting produced a report with a summary of the current 'flood status' and the needs of participating Member States in the region. The meeting also agreed to produce a protocol on flood mitigation and rehabilitation using nuclear techniques.
Participating RAS5069 Member States are Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao P.D.R., Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.