The third China-Japan Symposium on Measures against Sediment Disasters Caused by Earthquakes was held in Chengdu，China from August 18 to 20. Experts from Japan and China attended it.

the third China-Japan Symposium  （Picture by IMHE）

The symposium was held under the framework of the 5-year collaborative program between Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering. It aimed at the prediction and control of sediment disasters caused by earthquakes both in China and Japan.

During their cooperation in the last two years, they had obtained the preliminary distributing features of sediment disasters in severely earthquake-hit areas. Moreover, their suggestions on the control, monitoring and early warning of sediment disasters in Wenchuan played an essential role in the early warning of the landslides there on August 13.

The third symposium concentrated on the progress and achievements of the collaborative research program this year and discussed the collaborative research program and its implementation for the next year.

During the symposium, Japanese experts analyzed the relationship between rainfall and landslides after the Wenchuan earthquake, and the features of Taiwan’s sediment disasters after the Typhoon Morakot, highlighting the generating process of complex disasters.

In addition, part of the experts took fieldwork on sediment disasters in Wenchuan and conducted an in-depth discussion on the stability of slip mass in collapse zones, field monitoring on landslides, and reconstruction of the afflicted areas.