From November 5th to 7th, 2018, "The 5th International Symposium on Debris Flows and the 3rd ‘the Belt and Road’ International Natural Disaster Risk and Comprehensive Disaster Reduction Symposium" was successfully held in Beijing. The theme of the conference was “Mountain Hazards Formation, Monitoring, Simulation and Prevention”. At the same time, “One Belt and One Road Disaster Reduction” was also the key topic of this meeting.

The conference was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Soil and Water Conservation Association, and the Asian Debris Flow Society. It was jointly organized by the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, the International Society of Soil Mechanics, Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan University, and Chang'an University. The conference is divided into six parts. The topics covered the formation mechanism, regional law, activity characteristics, dynamic process and simulation, risk assessment, monitoring and early warning, engineering prevention and control of geological hazards, such as debris flow, collapse, landslide and barrier lake. More than 50 academic reports from well-known experts and young scholars in various fields of mountain hazards were collected, and more than 140 representatives from 11 countries and regions around the world attended the meeting. Based on the frontier of geological disasters, this conference will discuss the scientific and technical issues of disaster prevention and mitigation for the major disaster reduction needs faced by China and “the Belt and Road” countries. It serves not only the development of disciplines and the improvement of disaster reduction technology level, but also the technological support for the construction of "the Belt and Road" and the sustainable development of the countries along the border.

Professor Cheng Qiangong, Professor Ding Mingtao and Dr. Wang Yufeng from our faculty attended the meeting. Professor Cheng Qiangong gave the theme report of the conference entitled "Insights in to the kinematics and dynamics of the Luanshibao rock avalanche based on its complex surface landforms". Professor Ding Mingtao gave the panel report entitled "The Response of Debris Flow to Mountain Vertical Differentiation in the Upper Reaches of Min River", and Dr. Wang Yufeng gave the panel report entitled "Insight into the normal stress-dependent frictional weakening of large rock avalanche basal facies." In addition, Professor Cheng Qiangong also served as the chairman of the group meeting and was invited to attend the seminar on the “the Belt and Road Disaster Prevention and Mitigation” major research project sponsored by the Department of Earth Sciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China on the afternoon of November 5th. On the morning of November 3rd, as the host of the project application unit, he participated in the defense meeting of the Ministry of Science and Technology's 2018 key research and development plan.