On the afternoon of April 20th, 2013, Vice President Liu Chunping signed the cooperative agreement on the building ofDisaster Information and Emergency Management System International Cooperation Lab (DIEMS)with the chairman of association of Information System for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), Professor Bartel Van de Walle.

This agreement is made on the basis of Letter of Intent for Cooperative Lab-building signed on October 19th, 2012, in order to make more explicit the lab construction. It further defines the details about the cooperation, such as the completion time and schedule of lab-building, upfront investment, software and hardware construction, the establishment of Lab Management Committee andLab Academic Committee. On April 16th, President of IDP, Professor Bo Jingshan, Vice President, Professor Liu Chunping, and experts from Institute of Integrated Disaster Reduction and Department of Economic Management had a meeting with Professor Bartel Van de Walle, and reached agreement on the construction goal, research direction, operation management and building plan of the cooperative lab-building.

According to the agreement, the two parties will build a platform for cooperation and communication on the field of Emergency information management system for natural disasters, Rapid assessment technology for natural disasters, Emergency simulation and decision support system and Earthquake disaster mitigation planning and conduct research on these fields. The signing of the agreement marks the official start of the assessment and construction of Disaster Information and Emergency Management System International Cooperation Lab (DIEMS).

At the signing ceremony