During the second International Symposium on Flood Defence, which started in Beijing yesterday, they urged a move away from the concept of fighting floods to a concept of flood management.

So far this year, floods have swept over central and eastern Europe and caused huge losses in Germany, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic.

In China, floods hit the Yangtze River this summer, claiming more than 1,500 lives, affecting about 190 million people and leaving a repair bill of nearly 68 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion).

The experts said it is no longer possible to protect citizens against floods. Instead, they must learn to live with the disasters, instead of only using passive measures like dikes to deal with them.

Although flooding is posing increasing threats to many countries, they said humans can live with the disasters by trying to use the water left behind by floods.

An estimated 200 flood management experts are attending the four-day forum. Over half of them are from about 30 countries and regions facing flood-related problems.

They expect the conference, the first of its kind held in China, will offer advice to scientists and administrators on the direction that needs to be taken for the world to live with flooding and to provide leadership for a better approach to flood management.

During the conference, the experts will also exchange ideas and learn about other related issues like flood modeling, the environmental impact of flooding and flood insurance.

"Let us join hands to contribute to the use of sustainable water resources and make our world a better place to live in," an unidentified, leading Chinese water expert said.

Addressing the group, Qian Zhengying, from the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences, said China's flood protection strategies are in flux, moving from fighting floods in an untempered way to living with them in an orderly and sustainable manner.

"Only by finding outlets for massive seasonal floodwaters can China develop its estimated 1 million square kilometers of populous and fertile alluvial river plains and be in harmony with floods," Qian said.

During recent flood seasons, a low discharge of floodwater usually causes high water levels on China's major rivers like the Yangtze, which has been affected by human activities.

For example, the reclamation of land and marshy areas around the river have decreased the Yangtze's flood discharge capacity.

China has a history of fighting with floods, particularly in its vast alluvial river plains where land is so rich and populous.

But only with the protection of dikes and levees along the rivers can people survive.

(China Daily September 11, 2002)