IORA Workshop on Biomedical-engineering and other Innovative Technologies with relevance to Post-Disaster Situations

Member States, located within and around the Indian Ocean rim, are prone to natural disasters such as earth quakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods, droughts, and volcanic eruptions. As a result of climate change, extreme weather phenomena with the accompanying natural hazards are on the rise, alongside man-made hazards such as oil spills, and water, sea and air pollution. These effects are rising in frequency, with increasingly devastating results for our natural environment and alarming prospects of future generations.

Once a disaster has hit an area, rescue teams fight against time to provide relief and to save the lives of sometimes badly injured survivors. Appropriate medical knowledge and expertise is scarce, and can often not arrive in time to provide relief measures in sufficient quantity to urgently assist affected and devastated areas. As a subsequent impact of such a disaster, drinking water and safe sanitation solutions are in short supply, and threaten communities to be affected through the spread of communicable diseases.

There are a number of technology solutions that can assist to reduce and contain these risks. It is important that the respective rescue teams and their backoffice supporters from various disaster risk management agencies of IORA Member States understand these technologies and gain access to the various solutions available. 

It is with a view to these aspects that the IORA Regional Centre for Science and Technology Transfer (IORA-RCSTT), the RWTH Aachen University in Germany along with the IORA Secretariat, will host the forthcoming Workshop on Biomedical-engineering and other Innovative Technologies with relevance for Post-Disaster Situations.

The main objective of this Workshop is to enhance capacity building in biomedical engineering and other relevant innovative technologies that are of relevance in post-disaster situations, such as salt-water desalination and water purification, as well as safe sanitation solutions.

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