The video conference on the Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service System (DRR) was held at the Chinese Academy of Engineering on May 18. Mr. Soichiro Yasukawa, Coordinator for Earth Sciences and Geo-Hazards Risk Reduction Section at the Natural Science Sector of UNESCO, Ms. Jutta May, expert on information/knowledge management, Ms. Fang Ying from the Secretariat of the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology under the Auspices of UNESCO (IKCEST), Wang Juanle, Research Fellow and Executive Director of DRR, and members of the project team Cheng Kai, Wang Yujie and Zhou Yezhi attended the meeting. Mr. Soichiro Yasukawa chaired the meeting.

Wang Juanle first gave a summary of the first International Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service System, particularly the progress DRR made after the conference in improving user services, conducting big data analysis, expanding thematic services and building international and domestic cooperation networks, and then provided an introduction to the preparations for the second international conference on DRR. The participants had a lively discussion on the details of this year’s international conference, international training, promotion of metadata standards, application of big data methods and sharing of application cases, and reached consensus. Mr. Soichiro Yasukawa pledged that UNESCO would continue to support and participate in the conference and expressed appreciation to the IKCEST team for their efforts and contributions to disaster risk reduction.