Symposium on Disaster Prevention for Urban Underground Space was Successfully Held

On August 6, 2021, the symposium on disaster prevention for urban underground space was successfully held online. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME), the Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC) and the Architectural Society of China (ASC), and jointly hosted by the Underground Space Branch of the CSRME, the Underground Space Academic Committee of the ASC, and the School of Architecture and Design - Southwest Jiaotong University. Experts and scholars from universities, research institutions and enterprises in Singapore, Japan, and China shared their experiences on disaster prevention in underground space, proposed the key problems encountered in urban underground space disaster prevention, and pointed out the future development direction. More than 20,000 professionals attended the online symposium.

The invited presentations cover the typical engineering technology, management measures and construction experience for urban underground space waterlogging prevention at home and abroad, as well as the research progress and development suggestions for domestic urban underground space disaster prevention. Academician Xiangsheng Chen gave a lecture entitled "Learning from the disaster caused by heavy rains", and addressed the necessity of resilient infrastructure construction in the process of urbanization. The executive director of Arup Singapore Rongxing Chen introduced the underground flood control project in Singapore and Malaysia. The manager of the International Project Planning Department (Pacific Consulting & Design Co., Ltd.) Takeshi Yuasa presented the Japan's urban waterlogging prevention and construction experiences. Professor Jianhong Wang from Shandong University analyzed the existing Tokyo metro flood control measures. The chief engineer of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited Shengxiang Lei pondered the urban crisis caused by the catastrophic floods, and showed the importance of underground space in sudden urban disasters. The senior engineer of Changsha Smart Air Defense and Disaster Prevention Research Institute Liangkai Fan systematically summarized the underground space flood prevention equipment and facilities from the perspective of disaster prevention, and made suggestions for development. Professor Zhou Tiejun from Chongqing University analyzed the importance of research on safe evacuation and emergency refuge in underground space.

The symposium included a discussion session where dozens of experts and scholars discussed underground space flood control, fire protection, earthquake resistance, and civil air defense from the perspectives of planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and management. The delegates carried out a multi-angle in-depth discussion on the precautions against external disasters (war, high temperature, etc.) and internal disasters (fire and flood, etc.), clarified the main disaster threats to underground space, and learned the experiences and practices of urban underground space disaster prevention in different countries, understood the shortcomings and weaknesses in responding to emergencies and natural disasters in urban underground space in China. Experts put forward many valuable opinions and suggestions on how to effectively improve disaster prevention in urban underground space.