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About the Course
Effective Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) at high-hazard potential dams are crucial for minimizing loss of life and property damage from dam failures. Enhancing dam safety and preparedness among dam owners, operators, safety managers, emergency officials, and downstream communities is essential for risk mitigation.
This course focuses on the critical components of EAPs, detailing their objectives, implementation responsibilities, and the significance of early warning systems allowing the participants to develop a comprehensive understanding of emergency levels and their implications.
The course integrates historical dam failures, legal frameworks, hydraulic and hydrological principles, and practical exercises, offering a thorough exploration of dam safety and emergency planning. Participants will develop advanced skills in hydraulic modelling, mastering dam-break flood hydrograph estimation and downstream flood propagation analysis. By using HEC-RAS software, they will engage in practical sessions to simulate flood scenarios, ensuring precise delineation of flood areas and enhancing their capability in emergency response planning for dam-related incidents.
Emergency planning at the dam level covers detection and classification of events and dam anomalies, response actions and notification. The course also examines emergency planning in downstream valleys, namely warning and evacuation, highlighting Portuguese and Brazilian experiences. By analysing catastrophic case studies, participants will gain critical insights into civil defence strategies, challenges, and solutions, enhancing their emergency preparedness and response capabilities.
Speakers
Teresa Viseu Principal Researcher, LNEC
Maria Teresa Viseu is a Principal Researcher at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering and Head of the Water Resources and Hydraulic Structures Division within the Water and Environmental Department. She is also an Associate Professor at the University of Lisbon. With a PhD in Civil Engineering, her expertise includes hydraulic structures, fluvial hydraulics, hydrology, and water resources.
Maria Teresa Viseu leads research projects on water resources, hydraulic structure behavior, flood and dam risk management, dam-break flood assessment, and emergency planning with studies conducted across Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. She has authored over 350 publications and co-supervised multiple PhD and MSc theses. She has contributed to projects for organizations such as UNDP, the World Bank, NATO, and the European Commission under several framework programs, as well as initiatives funded by the NSF and the Portuguese FCT.
João Fernandes Assistant Researcher, LNEC
João Fernandes, PhD, is an Assistant Researcher at the Hydraulics and Environment Department of LNEC (Portugal) and an Invited Assistant Professor at Nova University. His research focuses on fluvial hydraulics, flood dynamics, and the interactions between river flow, sediment transport, and vegetation. His expertise includes advanced experimental techniques, physical and numerical modeling of hydraulic structures and hydrological risk assessment.
He has played a key role in national and international research projects on flood management, early warning systems, and climate change adaptation in river basins. His work contributes to the development of innovative strategies for flood risk mitigation, real-time hydrological forecasting, and emergency response planning.
With over 120 scientific and technical publications, including book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and conference proceedings, he has made contributions to the field of hydro-environmental engineering. He has produced several technical reports that support policy-making and best practices in flood risk management.
Sílvia Amaral Assistant Researcher, LNEC
Sílvia Amaral, PhD, is an Auxiliary Researcher at LNEC’s Hydraulics and Environment Department (Portugal) and an Adjunct Professor at Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa. Her expertise spans advanced experimental methods, physical and numerical modelling of hydraulic structures, hydrological risk assessment and dam and dike failure analysis.
She leads and collaborates on national and international research projects in dam breach modelling, dike failures, hydrological forecasting and emergency planning. With over 85 publications, including theses, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles, she has also supervised several MSc and PhD students. Her work has contributed to projects funded by the European Commission, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and other international agencies.
Rafael Pereira Machado Brazilian Civil Protection and Defence Agency
Civil Engineer and postgraduate specialization course in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Brasilia. Holds a Master in BIM Management from the Zigurat Institute of Technology, Spain, and postgraduate specialization course in Environmental Management from the Brazilian Institute of Training. Over 14 years of experience at Brazil’s National Secretariat for Civil Protection and Defense, holding various positions related to disaster risk management. Worked for three years analyzing disaster prevention projects and coordinated disaster response eƯorts for five years, including leading the national center for risk and disaster management in Brazil. For five years, he contributed to the reestablishment of essential services and reconstruction following disasters. Currently serves as Chief of StaƯ at the National Secretariat for Civil Protection and Defense in Brazil. Since 2015, he has focused on emergency management for dams, having worked on major disasters involving mining dam failures, such as those in Mariana (2015) and Brumadinho (2019), as well as various other risk and disaster situations involving dams in Brazil. Participated in regulatory and legal reviews related to Brazil’s national dam safety policy. Authored a guidance manual for municipal contingency plans for dams, which guides the actions of Brazil's civil protection and defense agents. Serves as a professor of risk management and contingency planning in the postgraduate specialization course on dam safety at the Federal University of Bahia. Coordinates training projects for civil protection agents to develop municipal contingency plans aligned with emergency action plans for dams, delivered in both in-person and distance-learning formats. At the international level, has served since 2015 as a project manager for the International Disasters Charter, providing support to countries such as Mozambique, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, and Colombia, in addition to activations for Brazil. In 2018, participated in workshops and dam visits in Spain related to the Strategic Rehabilitation Action Plan for Dams, in partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). Attended the Annual Meeting, Exhibition, and Symposium of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) and the Emergency Management for Dams course organized by ICOLD in Ottawa, Canada, in 2019. Participated in the Safety Evaluation of Existing Dams International Technical Seminar and Study Tour conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 2022. Served as the general coordinator for the Brazilian humanitarian mission sent to Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake of February 2023. Received training on integrated sediment disaster risk management in Japan in 2014 and on the design, management, and maintenance of SABO structures for debris flow containment in Japan in 2024. Coordinated a technical cooperation mission to Suriname in 2024, focusing on sharing Brazilian expertise in dam management and safety, and conducted a workshop for local authorities and technicians.
Final Programme
9:00 – 10:30 General framework
Teresa Viseu
Historical failures and the global legal framework
Dams Emergency Plans:
General contents and goals
Identification of main responsibilities
Notification and early warning systems
10:30 – 11:00 – Coffee break
11:00 – 13:00 Dam-break Flood simulation
João Fernandes
Case study presentation and hydrology notions applied to dams
Dam failure simulation for flood hydrograph estimation
Flood hydrograph propagation in the downstream valley
General concepts of the simulation software - HEC-RAS
Entering input data into the software: dam, reservoir and topography of the downstream valley
Simulation of flood propagation and flood areas delimitation
13:00 – 14:00 – Lunch
14:00 – 16:00 Emergency planning at dam level
Sílvia Amaral
Emergency Action Plans for dams
Emergency levels
Detection and classification of events and dam anomalies
Dam response actions
Case study: Internal Emergency Management
16:00 – 16:30 – Coffee break
16:30 – 18:30 Emergency planning in the downstream valley
Rafael Pereira Machado
Changes in Brazilian Legislation following the dams’ accidents of Brumadinho and Fundão
The Brazilian experience and the challenges in implementing Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for dams
Brazilian Civil Protection Legislation - Contingency Plans (PLANCON)
Integration procedures between the Emergency Action Plans (EAP) and PLANCON – Practical approach
One-day courses prices:
Public in general - €330
Students - €250
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