On July 7 and 8, the 6th Digital Earth Summit was convened in Beijing. The Summit was attended by more than 300 representatives from 30-plus countries including China, the United States, Germany, Italy and Australia, as well as relevant international organizations. Present at the opening ceremony were famous scholars and Chinese officials including Wang Qinmin, Vice-chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Lu Yongxiang, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th and 11th National People’s Congress; and Shang Yong, Executive Vice-President of China Association for Science and Technology. At the summit, SDIM hosted the disaster reduction session at which participants discussed the application of information technology including Digital Earth in the field of disaster reduction.