A ceremony for the signing of Letter of Cooperation for the establishment of International Program Office of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) was held in Beijing on Feb.22. Dr Cheng Donghong, executive secretary of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), and Prof. Tan Tieniu, deputy secretary general of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) attended the ceremony with brief remarks.

Through hosting the IPO, it is expected that Chinese science community could enhance the cooperation with international organizations, to jointly reduce the risks and damage posed by natural disasters for the development and progress of human society，mentioned Dr Cheng Donghong. Prof. Tan also expressed his gratitude for establishing the Office in CAS and guaranteed the support to the Office from the CAS.

Dr. Zhang Jiansheng, director general, CAST Department of International Affairs, Dr Lu Yonglong, director general of the Department of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Guo Huadong, director general of the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, CAS, Prof. Deliang Chen, executive director, International Council for Science, Dr Heide Hackmann, secretary general, International Social Science Council, and Dr Reid Basher, Special Advisor to UN Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat (UNISDR) signed the Letter of Cooperation on behalf of the six parties respectively.

According to the Letter of Cooperation, CAST and CAS will work with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and other institutions in China to provide sustained intellectual and material support for the Office. The signing ceremony indicates that the establishment of the Office of IRDR in Beijing is in progress, meanwhile, an open and international recruitment of executive director for the Office is conducted in Beijing as well.

The Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) is an internationally integrated, multidisciplinary, all-hazards research program, sponsored by ICSU, ISSC, and UNISRD. The program that is planned for 10 year will address the impacts of disasters on regional and global scales and brings together the combined talents of the natural, socio-economic, health and engineering sciences from around the world for the objectives including: the scientific characterization of natural and human-induced hazards, vulnerability and risk; the understanding of decision-making in complex and changing risk contexts; the reduction of risk and curbing losses through knowledge-based actions.

CAST proposed the offer to host the Office of IRDR in February 2009. After site visits review done by ICSU, ISSC and UNISRD, ICSU formally announced that China was chosen to host IPO of IRDR on Dec. 13, 2009.