The Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR) was founded after the massive Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008. It is collaboration between Sichuan University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and was created through an initial generous donation of 200 million RMB from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. IDMR was officially opened on May 8, 2013, it is dedicated to comprehensive research, education and service provision on all aspects of disaster risk reduction, response, recovery and reconstruction, which is a high standard, multidisciplinary and internationalized new institute committed to create impacts on society with its scientific research, education and services in the filed of disaster prevention and reconstruction.
Since its founding, IDMR has formulated a high-level and internationalized faculty team leading by academicians. The previous assistant director general for Natural Science of UNESCO, Prof.Gretchen Kalonji is the Dean of the institute.
Our research and educational agenda focuses on three main themes:Disaster Health Sciences, disaster-related Natural Sciences and Engineering, Social Science and Disaster Emergency Management. In the health sciences our focus include: disaster nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics and orthotics. Masters degrees were developed with Hong Kong Polytechnic University in each of these areas. Other research foci include disaster mental health, and epidemiology of disaster injuries.In the natural sciences and engineering, foci to date have included geohazards (earthquake, slides, and mudslides), meteorological disaster, earthquake resistant building design, and disaster-related information systems. A new master degree program has been developed on the theme of “Safety Science and Disaster Risk Reduction”. In the social sciences, our foci have included disaster education systems; development of social work professionals for disasters; public perception of disaster risks; and disaster and emergency management systems.We were successful in obtaining support for a new program in “Integrated Disaster Sciences and Management”, which has been listed in SCU Double-first class discipline construction.We are also working with Hua Xi clinical school on the development of another Double First Class DisciplinePlatform and Sichuan University Disaster Medicine Center.
IDMR actively explores a new model of cultivating high-level talents,to date, a total of over 370 master and PhD students has been enrolled, 225 already graduated. Among them, 121 were PhD students and 104 were master students.
IDMR possesses Asia advanced medical laboratories including the Prosthetics and Orthotics Workshop, the Physical Therapy Laboratory, the Occupational Therapy Laboratory, and the Disaster Nursing Laboratory and we also have disaster mechanics laboratories. All the labs are open to university and society, providing guarantees for the long-term development of IDMR and serve the needs of research, teaching, and discipline construction.
In the motto of “Pooling knowledge for practical use, Achieving success through serving the people”, IDMR is committed to serve the society. With the collaboration with West China Hospital, we successfully got the approval of building the National Emergency Medical Rescue Comprehensive Base, which is one of the 7 key bases of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan. The base has now completed the construction of an emergency medical rescue mobile tent hospital covering an area of 8,000 square meters. It is an overall set of mobile and air emergency rescue hospitals equipped with disinfection, debridement, resuscitation, treatment, surgery, pharmacy, command, dormitories, power supply, and logistic support and other various facilities and equipment. It is the first mobile tent hospitals built in the country. Relying on West China Hospital, Mobile Tent Hospital, IDMR, and National Emergency Medical Rescue Comprehensive Base, Sichuan University is applying for the World Health Organization Level 3 International Emergency Medical Rescue Team (3rd-level EMT is the World Health Organization's top emergency medical team, currently, there is only one in the world and is owned by the Israeli military.) After the declaration is successful, Sichuan University will become the world's first nongovernmental Level 3 international emergency medical rescue team. IDMR is actively applying for the “Ministry of Education’s Teenager Education and Training Base for Disaster Prevention and Reduction”.In addition, IDMR was titled as Chengdu City Technology Bureau SCU Disaster Prevention Popularization of Science Base in 2017. The Natural disaster emergency management and reconstruction Think Tank leading by IDMR is one of the 22 provincial level think Tanks. IDMR has organized a large number of training activities for the general community and for specialized groups, on such topics as disaster preparedness, disaster emergency medical response by our Sichuan University – Ministry of Civil Affairs National Training Center for Social Work Professionals and IDMR Disaster Education and Research Center. A total of approximately 5000 people have participated in these training programs over the past three years.
IDMR has been actively in providing policy advice to governmental agencies and local authorities in the aftermath of recent disasters, including the Ya’an earthquake, the Ludian earthquake, Xin Jiang Pishan earthquake,earthquake in Nepal, and recent earthquake in Jiu Zhaigou. After the Lushan,Ya’an earthquake of 2013, IDMR experts consulted the Sichuan Provincial Government on emergency response and post-disaster reconstruction. After the 2014 Ludian earthquake in Yunnan province, IDMR sent personnel to the affected area to offer medical assistance as well as social services. After the 2015 Pishan Earthquake in Xinjiang Province, experts of IDMR visited the disaster area and organized training courses in order to support the local post-disaster reconstruction. Moreover, IDMR assisted in post-disaster reconstruction after the 2015 Nepal earthquake.On March 27 2016, the Prime Minister of Nepal, Rt. Hon. Mr. K. P. Sharma Oli visited Sichuan University and expressed the wish to continuously strengthen the cooperation with IDMR and obtain IDMR support in training personnel in post-disaster reconstruction for Nepal. Moreover, IDMR actively participates in the cultivation of high-level talents in disaster prevention and mitigation for One Belt One Road nations.
IDMR fully plays its high-end communication platform role with its open, international characteristics for disaster prevention and reduction in domestic and international collaboration. IDMR successfully host the 9th High-Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster Meeting, May 2017,in Chengdu, many foreign important politicians and renowned experts attended. IDMR participated in 3rd UN General Assembly Session in New York, giving Chinese university voice and contribute SCU’s intellectual input to the global water disaster prevention and mitigation innovative research and cutting-edge technologies. IDMR is also designated as Secretariat of the “Alliance of Alliances”, a global alliance of universities and research institutes working on water and disasters. Design and take the leadership of first China-South Asia Disaster Forum by working with Sichuan Province Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the second South Asia Disaster Forum is preparing and will be host on May 11, 2018. Additionally, we have co-organized the “National Comprehensive Forum on Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and Sustainable Development” for four consecutive years and held the “Youth, Responsibility, and Dream” International Forum on Disaster Reduction and Disaster Reduction for University Students for nine consecutive years.
IDMR has become an important window for exchanges and cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau universities. More than 600 teachers and students from Hong Kong and Macau universities participated in the disaster area service learning activities planned and organized by IDMR. We conducted exchange activities with Hong Kong universities such as Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong University, and Hong Kong Chinese University, and also disaster prevention and mitigation capacity building activities with Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools. We collaborated with Macau University of Science and Technology and Macao Polytechnic Institute to design service-learning courses. In recent years,IDMR has successfully implemented projects that include:The ancient city and its new appearance exchange program, the rehabilitation service program for disabled people in Chinese mainland, Sichuan disaster resilience - college students summer vocation study program in disaster affected area, Sichuan- Hong Kong disaster prevention and reduction university students summer vocation exchange project, the application of biotechnology to support disaster-stricken rural households and service learning programs, and the rehabilitation and treatment service learning exchange program in the Yunnan disaster-stricken area, Sichuan-Macao study and exchange camp of ancient Shu culture and post-disaster reconstruction, and micro-curriculum project for disaster prevention and mitigation for Hong Kong secondary school students, which promoted exchanges between teachers and students of Hong Kong and Macao and promoted mutual friendship.
We established and strengthened relations with key international partner universities, with the goal of reciprocal exchanges of faculty and students; our central, founding, relationship with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been stabilized and strengthened; we have worked with a variety of key partners to establish new program, including Tohoku University, Kyoto University, and UC Berkeley.
