The Art and Science of Large-Scale Disasters

The Art and Science of Large-Scale DisastersMohamed Gad-el-HakProfessor
The Caudill Eminent Professor of Biomedical Engineering and
Chair of Mechanical Engineering
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VirginiaLarge-scale disasters adversely affect considerable number of people, devastate sizable geographical area, and tax the resources of local communities and central governments. Disasters can naturally occur, but humans can also cause their share of devastation. There is also the possibility of anthropogenic calamity: human's actions causing a natural disaster to become more damaging than it would otherwise. The art and science of large-scale disasters aim at better prepare scientists, engineers, first responders, and above all politicians to deal with manmade and natural disasters. The last annus horribilis in particular has shown the importance of being prepared for large-scale catastrophes, and how the world can get together to help clean out the consequent mess. In this talk, both the art and science of predicting, preventing and mitigating natural and manmade disasters are broadly discussed. The laws of nature govern the evolution of any disaster. In some cases, as for example weather-related disasters, those first-principles laws could be written in the form of field equations, but exact solutions of these often nonlinear differential equations are impossible to obtain particularly for turbulent flows, and heuristic models together with intensive use of supercomputers are necessary to proceed. In other cases, as for example earthquakes, the precise laws are not even known and prediction becomes more or less a black art. Management of any type of disaster is more art than science. Nevertheless, much can be done to alleviate the resulting pain and suffering.

Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall, Room 102 (SLH 102)

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Jennifer Cantwell