MUSCAT - The 3rd International Symposium on Flash Floods in Wadi Systems (ISSF), entitled ‘Disaster Risk Reduction and Water Harvesting in the Arab Region’, concluded at the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) in Halban last week. Various sessions focused on hydraulic simulation, water harvesting and sediment management as well as monitoring, meteorology, climate change, risk assessment, risk management and hazard mitigation.
According to international flash flood management experts, most Arab countries have been suffering from a rise in flash floods, especially within the past ten years.
Dr Ayisha al Khatri from the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources (MRMWR) gave a presentation on the hydrometic network and its role in flash flood monitoring in the Sultanate. She said that the first rain gauge was installed in Muscat in 1893, while the first flood risk study was initiated in 1987. In 1992 the Ministry published the first flood risk maps, indicating areas that are prone to floods.
The hydrometic network monitors flash floods and thereby helps in projecting and preventing future floods in the country.
A team of researchers from Kyoto University (Japan) Dr Tetsuya Sumi, Dr Sameh Kantoush and Dr Mohamed Saber, raised in their research presentation the question of climate change and its implications for flash floods in terms of frequency and intensity.
For their research they applied water harvesting and hydrological modelling as part of a case study conducted in Egypt.
Towards the end of the sessions, the participants of the symposium discussed a joint 5-year roadmap towards establishing an international framework of guidelines for the management of flash floods in wadi systems.
Short-term measures such as training, construction guidelines and a wadi flash flood textbook were discussed. The framework will also include international research projects. The next symposium will be held in Casablanca, Morocco next year.
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