On November 7, 2005, the constituent meeting of the flood expert group was held at GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ). With this event, the Helmholtz-EOS Natural Disasters Networking Platform (NaDiNe) project entered a new stage. Through the cooperation of these experts it has become possible to extend the project?s Internet portal in order to make it accessible by the public in spring 2006. It will not only provide a communication platform of the Helmholtz Association, but also well-founded, scientific information on natural hazards for the public.

The meeting was attended by experts of GeoForschungsZentruk Potsdam (GFZ) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Approaches and procedures were discussed to allow the provision of flood-related information for the scientific support of ongoing events. Work during the meeting showed how to benefit from the expertise of the group members and how to use it in order to provide information and data products. Furthermore, the first version of a task schedule for the response to future flood events was developed.

Relying upon the expierences gained with this first experts group, further teams, working in the field of earthquakes, tsunamis, oil spills as well as storms and storm surges, will gather for their constituent meetings during the next weeks.