Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research,
National Taiwan University
No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 10617, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
http://www.wcdr.ntu.edu.tw_____________________________________________________________

OutlineIn 2003, the Disaster Research Center (DRC) of National Taiwan
University was established for researches on various types ofdisaster reduction. The center name changed from DRC to Center
for Weather Climate and Disaster Research (WCDR) in 2010.
WCDR has promoted interdisciplinary collaboration in natural
disaster research with research communities, including universities,institutions, government agencies and private sectors in Taiwan.
Located in the hot zone of typhoon tracks in the Western Pacific,
Taiwan suffers three to five major typhoons annually. In the recent
decades, extreme weather events have occurred more frequently in
Taiwan and all over the world. In addition, global climate change has
frequently generated more natural disasters such as floods,
mudflows and landslides. Due to extreme events in powerful
typhoons such as Tyhoon Nari, Aere, Kalmaegi, Morakot, Fanapi
and Megi, catastrophe has incurred enormous damages and life loss
in Taiwan. Reinforce international research communities andacademic-industry collaboration to provide high quality researchoutcomes and services for disaster risk reduction.
In WCDR, there are four research divisions: weather climate
edge-cutting research division, research & development
division, disaster preventing project division andadministration division. The mission of WCDR is to promote
integrated research developments and to investigate
methodologies for disaster reduction based on science,engineering and informatics. Its major objective is todevelop and integrate information of hydro-meteorology,fluvial-pluvial flood, landslide and soil erosion disasters indecision-making process. The research outcomes of
WCDR provide scientific modelling and monitoring results
and knowledge on natural hazards to the public, and theyalso help national and local government agencies on
prevention strategies as well as emergency responses fordisasters.

Research Achievements and Challenges
The recent studies focus on the impacts of the radar monitoring data integrated with different
densities of rain gauge networks on rainfall-runoff processes through a semi-distributed parallel-typelinear reservoir rainfall-runoff model. In general, the more precise in locating the center of the storm
indicates the better estimation on the large-scale variability. We also focus on the impacts of urban
heat island effects on the hydrological pattern, including typhoon, frontal and convective rainfall. Theresults can promote the emergency operation for short-duration extreme weather events.

Many metropolises situated on lowlands suffer from pluvial inundation disasters more than fluvial
flood disasters. The design capacity of a drainage system is often smaller than that of a fluvial
protection facility such as levees. In order to improve mitigation strategies, flood risk assessment is
an important tool in non-structural flood control measures, especially in the countries suffering fromfrequent tropical cyclones and monsoons. A risk evaluation of dike failure is proposed, and themethodology is proposed and is verified by Typhoon Morakot event. As a results of urbanization in
Taiwan, heavy rainfalls cause inundation disaster rising with the increase of population and thedemand of land development. The above mentioned task is undergoing Emergency Response
Project for the New Taipei City.

In the research of presenting and visualizing disaster information, the integrated decision support
system (DSS) has incorporated not only the database of land use, buildings, resident and rescue
resources, but also the knowledgebase of engineering and non-engineering strategies for hazard
management and emergency responses.

Future Disaster Research Roadmap
 Long-term hot spot field investigation throughMultiple hydro-meteorology rainfall sources (QPE/QPESUMS/WRF)

Rainfallthreshold forflood warning

Observed
flood survey
datamonitoring and modeling.
 Application of real-time sensor network for data

Cluster analysis
Urban heat island effectcollection, equipment and model development.

Frequency analysis

Rainfall-runoff
simulation

Artificial neural networks

 Integrated

management and perspective
strategy for reducing risk of multi-hazards.

Fuzzy system Developing

comprehensive disaster
assessment tools in smart platform.

Predicted high accurate rainfall intensity and runoff discharge for the study sites

Landslide/soil erosion disaster
simulation

Slope unit modelingLandslidemodeling

Physicalmodel

Homogenerous
soil cond.

Soil erosion
modelingLogistic
regression
model

Drainagesystemmodeling by
SWMMOverlandflow
modeling by
NTU-2DFIM

River
routing by
HEC-RASNETSTARS Establishing river basin database for potential

inundation map and potential debris flow map.
 Short-term training classes for international

students in Taiwan to exchange experiences
and learn techniques.
 Implementation of interdisciplinary approaches

USLE
model

Layeredsoil
cond.

Landslide area & volume
estimation

Fluvial/pluvial flood disaster simulation

risk

Sediment overland flow FVM-OFST model
developing

Flooding area, inundation depth, breacheddischarge, water surface level

Surfacevolumeestimation

Sediment yield from watershed

to meaningfully combine efforts in technologicalinnovations, applications, governances, andeducation.

Risk map of dike failure

Hazard map

Vulnerability
map

Risk Matrix

Smart platform for disaster reduction

Hazards and emergency requirements are a part ofliving with nature while hazards are inevitable. The
elimination of all risk is impossible. Through sharing
and exchanging inter-disciplinary knowledge on
natural hazard researches, discussion over hazardrelated

issuesshouldhighlight

mutualcollaborations between government, business andcommunity partners to foster integration of hazard
prediction, mitigation and recovery, and provide
solutions to regional and global challenges.
Based on teaching and research efforts, technological innovation, transfer and application can beenhanced due to effective communication to the decision makers and public for natural disaster
reduction.