A 20-strong delegation of Chinese experts in disaster relief descends on London tomorrow (Tuesday, 9^th March, 2010) to investigate the UK approach to managing humanitarian crises.

The Chinese visitors from Beijing’s Disaster and Social Relief Division have been invited to a discussion seminar on managing natural hazards, by the Humanitarian Futures Programme (HFP) at King’s College, London.

“The delegation is particularly interested in how we in the UK deal with monitoring, warning,  management and relief in disaster situations and the Humanitarian Futures Programme has devised a programme to ensure a substantive exchange of ideas between our Chinese colleagues and leading UK specialists in emergency preparation,” says Dr. Randolph Kent, Director of the HFP.

Dr. Kent says the exchange visit is timely in the light of a growing number of natural hasards. He is confident the input from organisations brought together for the seminar will produce clear insights into innovative types of research being undertaken into ways of mitigating the worst effects of future disasters facing the most vulnerable people of the world.

The Chinese visitors will work in panel groups with experts in humanitarian relief from organisations such as:

• ALNAP, a network incorporating key humanitarian organisations from across the sector
• China Dialogue, the world's first fully bilingual website devoted to the environment and promoting direct dialogue
• The Overseas Development Institute’s Humanitarian Policy Group
• ELRHA, a collaborative network dedicated to supporting partnerships between higher education institutions and humanitarian organisations
• RedR, an international charity working to improves disaster relief through training
• King’s College London’s China Institute,  which provides a focal point for China-related activities across a range of academic disciplines

“By meeting face to face and exchanging different perspectives on hazards and how to deal with them, experts from opposite sides of the world can find a common language and begin a dialogue to protect future generations of Chinese, British and other nations around the globe, who will most certainly have to deal in one way of another with new humanitarian threats in the future,” says Dr. Kent.