UP keeps up with international trends

Posted on November 14, 2008

“It is our desire to see that this partnership with Benfield promotes research and generates new knowledge regarding natural hazards for the ultimate cause of saving lives and adding value to the vulnerable of Africa who are most affected by natural disasters,” said Professor Calie Pistorius, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at the University of Pretoria.

According to Prof Pistorius, the Benfield Natural Centre, Africa was formed in collaboration between Benfield, a global independent reinsurance and risk intermediary, and the University of Pretoria, one of the leading research universities in South Africa.

Prof Anton Ströh, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, reinforced this notion in stating that the centre was aimed at bringing different disciplines together to work on innovative solutions for natural hazards.

“It is usually at the intersection of such disciplines that innovative explosions take place. The centre will draw the expertise from Geology, Geography, Statistics, Geoinformatics and Metereology, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Insurance and Actuarial Sciences.

Whilst rendering the keynote address, Prof Kijko, Director of the Benfield Natural Hazard Centre, Africa declared that the risks posed by natural and human induced hazards were rapidly increasing worldwide. The frequency of natural disasters rose by 30 times in the last 50 years.

Prof Kijko further affirmed that Africa is the only continent whose actual share of reported disasters had increased over the past decade. Contributing factors that heighten Africa’s high vulnerability to disasters are said to include the accelerating population growth rate, food insecurity, complex poverty, incorrect usages of natural resources and failures of policy and institutional frameworks.

“The African [Benfield Natural Hazard] Centre, like the University of Pretoria in its Centenary year and like Benfield knows no bounds in its ambitions. The study of natural disasters is vital for the future. Where there is growth and change, we will be there to predict and plan.” says Prof Kijko.

“The opening of this centre, in my mind, is a mark of a turning point in the balance of what is lacking in Africa with what is good. I strongly believe that the good is winning and the African new beginning has begun,” concluded Prof Kijko.

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