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Assessment of Flood Risk Reduction Practices in Selected Cities of Nigeria
Abstract
Recent increase in flood occurrence in cities of developing countries illustrates how vulnerable these cities are to the impacts of flood. The realisation of these threats has heightened scholarly inquiry into the methods and strategies of disaster reduction in these cities. The success of these strategies is however scarcely assessed in literature. This study therefore assessed flood risk reduction practices in selected cities of Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified and examined the typology and trends of flood, the socio-cultural and economic characteristics of residents in the flood prone areas of the cities and residents’ level of vulnerability to disasters. More importantly, it examined contribution of individuals, community groups, government and nongovernmental agencies to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and examined factors influencing their contribution to DRR in the study area. This is with a view to providing information that could enhance community resilience in the study area.
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Since the 1980s the rate of expansion of Port Harcourt city has been very rapid with attendant accelerated housing development within the metropolis. This paper examines the residential development dynamics in Port Harcourt metropolis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach. In order to achieve this objective, two Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) multi-seasonal images of 19 December 1986 and 22 December 1990 and NigeriaSat1 image of April 2004 for the Study area were acquired for this study. The Landsat TM, ETM+ and NigeriaSat1satellite data were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2 image processing software. The result from the land use changes between 1986 and 2004 shows the prominent conversion of agricultural land to residential land uses. This implies that residential area has become one of the most important land use types within the periods under review. The paper recommended the need to invigorate planning machinery and activity in Port Harcourt metropolis to incorporate and integrate a new planning paradigm into the planning of the city and to introduce measures to manage smart growth.
This chapter, Disaster Recovery in an Era of Climate Change: The Unrealized Promise of Institutional Resilience represents an updated version of the chapter titled Sustainable Disaster Recovery: Operationalizing and Existing Agenda (2006).
critical disaster studies, mainly famine
Flood is a water induced disaster that leads to temporary overflow of dry land and causes serious damage on lives, property, and infrastructures. Flood has created a lot of damaging effect in Nigeria, resulting to the death of people, collapse of buildings, destruction of properties, damage of agricultural produce, loss of land and increased government expenditure. Despite persistent occurrence of this disaster, there is limited research geared at studying the factors that cause flooding and measures to effectively control it. To fill this gap, a random survey was conducted on 40 households, community leaders and agencies responsible for the management of flood in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Relative Important Index (RII) was employed for ranking the factors and the preventive measures. From the result, the common factors that cause flooding were poorly constructed drainage, heavy rainfall and improper waste disposal. Preventive measures for flooding were proper dumping of refuse, awareness of the public on the need to adhere to environmental rules, empowerment of government agencies to monitor residential building construction, implementation of government policies on flood and sanitization of town/city planners. Increased awareness at all levels (community, local, state and federal) of the risk of flooding, appropriate response techniques in mitigating flooding via implementation of flood control policies and flood early warning system to control flooding in Nigeria were also recommended.
Local governments in developing countries often experience fiscal gaps to address overall stock of risks and vulnerabilities because there are many other competing priorities. Alternative risk reduction financing is necessary to fill the gaps. This justifies the need for a new form of risk governance by inviting non-state actors such as civil society and private entities to collaborate in risk reduction. This collaboration emerges as form of risk governance namely public-private partnership. This paper asks what drives local firms participate in public-private partnership in reducing risks in Indonesia? The case presented here is based on the empirical work of Public Private Partnership for Disaster Management (P3DM) in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The paper concludes that the nature P3 in West Sumatra is characterized by high degree of informality and flexibility in their partnership.
Flash floods are one of the most disastrous natural hazards and cause serious loss of life and economic damage every year. Flooding frequently affects many regions in China, including periodically catastrophic events. An extensive compilation of the available data has been conducted across various hydroclimatological regions to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of flash floods in China. This inventory includes over 782 documented events and is the first step toward establishing an atlas of extreme flash flood occurrences in China. This paper first presents the data compilation strategy, details of the database contents, and the typical examples of first-hand analysis results. The subsequent analysis indicates that the most extreme flash floods originate mainly from small catchments over complex terrains and results in dominantly small- and medium-sized flooding events in terms of scales; however, these events, abrupt and seasonally recurrent in nature, account for a large proportion of the overall flooding-related disasters, especially disproportionately affecting elderly and youth populations. Finally, this study also recommends several immediate measures could be implemented to mitigate high impacts of deadly flash floods, although it still requires long-term significant efforts to protect human life and property in a country like China.
This paper examines the development over historical time of the meaning and
uses of the term resilience. The objective is to deepen our understanding of
how the term came to be adopted in disaster risk reduction and resolve some
of the conflicts and controversies that have arisen when it has been used.
The paper traces the development of resilience through the sciences,
humanities, and legal and political spheres. It considers how mechanics
passed the word to ecology and psychology, and how from there it was adopted
by social research and sustainability science. As other authors have noted,
as a concept, resilience involves some potentially serious conflicts or
contradictions, for example between stability and dynamism, or between
dynamic equilibrium (homeostasis) and evolution. Moreover, although the
resilience concept works quite well within the confines of general systems
theory, in situations in which a systems formulation inhibits rather than
fosters explanation, a different interpretation of the term is warranted.
This may be the case for disaster risk reduction, which involves
transformation rather than preservation of the "state of the system". The
article concludes that the modern conception of resilience derives benefit
from a rich history of meanings and applications, but that it is
dangerous – or at least potentially disappointing – to read to much into the
term as a model and a paradigm.
Natural disasters pose serious threats to large urban areas, therefore understanding and predicting human movements is critical for evaluating a population's vulnerability and resilience and developing plans for disaster evacuation, response and relief. However, only limited research has been conducted into the effect of natural disasters on human mobility. This study examines how natural disasters influence human mobility patterns in urban populations using individuals' movement data collected from Twitter. We selected fifteen destructive cases across five types of natural disaster and analyzed the human movement data before, during, and after each event, comparing the perturbed and steady state movement data. The results suggest that the power-law can describe human mobility in most cases and that human mobility patterns observed in steady states are often correlated with those in perturbed states, highlighting their inherent resilience. However, the quantitative analysis shows that this resilience has its limits and can fail in more powerful natural disasters. The findings from this study will deepen our understanding of the interaction between urban dwellers and civil infrastructure, improve our ability to predict human movement patterns during natural disasters, and facilitate contingency planning by policymakers.
The aim of the study is to explore the gender issues in disaster and to understand the relationships between vulnerability, preparedness and capacity following a qualitative method on the basis of secondary sources. The study notes that the women living in coastal areas are facing more difficulties due to the complexity of atmosphere where their activities are not properly recognized in disaster planning and management. However, the study showed that women, particularly belong to the poor families are primarily responsible for their domestic roles due to culturally dominated labour division. The study also recommended that women should be involved in emergency planning and disaster management process through ensuring their active participation. The inclusion of greater number of women in the emergency management profession could help in the long term to address disaster risks. Since, the underlying cultural, social, and economic patterns that lead to a low socioeconomic status of women and thereby generate their specific vulnerability to disasters. Though, such initiatives have not addressed like their entire adverse impact on socioeconomic status in recent literature, the present study is an initiative to address the women's involvement in preparedness and capacity building at the community level as well as household level which the vulnerable women are striving with the frequent disasters to sustain in the planet.
Apart from traffic congestion, flood is the most common serious physical urban problem in most Nigerian cities. This
usually results from high river levels, concentration of overland flow following heavy rainfall, limited capacity of drainage systems
and blockage of waterways and drainage channels. This study identified the factors responsible for perennial flooding in Mile 12
area of Lagos, Nigeria which has constituted serious menace in terms of socio-economic and environmental consequences. The
research methodology involved questionnaire administration on households, key informant interview especially on Lagos State
Physical Development Authority (LASPPDA) officials and participant-observation, while other data were collected from
secondary sources including various relevant publications and text books. The result shows that the perennial flooding problem
in Mile 12 is as a result of consistent high rainfall and water releases from Oyan dam in the neighbouring state of Ogun, Nigeria.
Other causes of flood in the study area include blockage of drainage channels by refuse and other wastes, narrow river channels
and construction along floodplain. In a bid to ameliorate the seemingly intractable problem of flooding in the study area, the
recommendations made include: provision of sufficient setback to streams and rivers, construction of roads with good drainage
system, channelization and building of more dams to avoid excess loading of the existing dam.
The impact of natural hazards and/or disasters in Cameroon continues to hit local communities hardest, but local government lacks the ability to manage disaster risks adequately. This is partly due to the fact that the necessity to mainstream disaster risk reduction into local governance and development practices is not yet an underlying principle of Cameroon's disaster management framework. Using empirical and secondary data, this paper analyses the governance of disaster risks in Cameroon with particular focus on the challenges local government faces in implementing disaster risk reduction strategies. The hypothesis is that the governance of disaster risks is too centralised at the national level, with huge implications for the effective governance of disaster risks at the local level. Although Cameroon has reinvigorated efforts to address growing disaster risks in a proactive way, it is argued that the practical actions are more reactive than proactive in nature. The overall aim is to explore the challenges and opportunities that local government has in the governance of disaster risks. Based on the findings from this research, policy recommendations are suggested on ways to mainstream disaster risk reduction strategies into local governance, and advance understanding and practice in the local governance of disaster risks in the country.
Port Harcourt, one of Nigeria's major cities has been experiencing rapid urbanization (of the order of 5% per annum on the average) since its founding by the British in 1913. The process of urbanisation is engulfing and transforming the way of life of the indigenous enclaves, which predate the founding of the city. This study has examined the impact of urbanization and its correlates on the socio-economic and socio-cultural aspects of life of the indigenes both subjectively (by questioning a probability sample of the indigenes) and objectively (from the judgment of experts using a state-of-the-art impact assessment methodology). The study found that while about one half of the respondents were pleased with urbanization, a little over one third were displeased with it. Reasons for pleasure included: development of the area, infrastructure development and improvement in aesthetics, while displeasure stemmed from increase in crime rate, destruction of traditional livelihoods, erosion of cultural values, among others. The study concluded that urbanization has indeed had both positive and negative impacts on the indigenous population and that there was reasonable agreement between subjective and objective impacts of urbanization. Finally, recommendations have been proffered to mitigate serious negative impacts including positive discrimination/affirmative action to help indigenes compete favourably with the usually more aggressive and better-equipped in-migrants.
South Africa is a complex and dynamic society, with overwhelming and increasing problems with disaster risk in the vulnerable urban communities in and around its rapidly growing metropolitan centres. The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of the challenges for disaster risk reduction in such communities. It focuses on the case of Imizamo Yethu, in the Western Cape, in order to build theory that is grounded in the empirical realities of stakeholders involved in disaster risk reduction there. The result points towards five interrelated key challenges, which must be concurrently addressed through large-scale development efforts. Without such investments, it is unlikely that disaster risks can be reduced to tolerable levels.
The frequent occurrence of fire accidents in commercial complexes has become a serious problem in Nigeria. The development of a quantitative tool for evaluating the proneness of a commercial complex to so called „market fires‟ is the focus of this study. A rigorous review of the literature was carried to identify and characterize some existing risk analysis models applicable to the problem. Some past fire disasters were analyzed. Using the insight gained from the above, a mathematical model incorporating the modularization features of the Optimum Risk Analysis (ORA) model was developed. Graphical User Interface (GUI) based computer software of the model was developed and used to analyze some existing complexes in Lagos and Ibadan cities of Nigeria and results compared with past record of fire accidents. The application of the model and the associated software indicates its suitability in predicting fire accidents. Insurance companies and other stakeholders will find it useful.
The objective of this research was to establish a holistic framework for defining and measuring disaster resilience for a community at various scales. Seven dimensions of community resilience have been identified and are represented by the acronym PEOPLES: Capital. The proposed PEOPLES Resilience Framework provides the basis for development of quantitative and qualitative models that measure continuously the resilience of communities against extreme events or disasters in any or a combination of the above-mentioned dimensions. Over the longer term, this framework will enable the development of geospatial and temporal decision-support software tools that help planners and other key decision makers and stakeholders to assess and enhance the resilience of their communities.
This paper examined the level of preparedness and capacity building to tackle urban flooding in Nigerian cities. Firstly, the incidences of urban flood hazards, causes and impacts were examined; secondly, the role of urbanization as large creator of flood risk for much of the urban population was analysed. Thirdly, discussion was about the vulnerability, preparedness and coping strategies of the people to these hazards. Fourthly, an examination of the role of spatial planning, sustainable drainage systems and land use management in building capacities to tackle flood hazards was carried out. The paper concluded that lack of proper spatial planning and land use management coupled with incapacity of governments to ensure good urban governance exacerbate the cases of urban flood in Nigeria. A GIS-based spatial planning and land use management can be a versatile tool in building capacities for flood disaster reduction and preparedness to ensure sustainable urban development.
In Malaysia, there are many heritage buildings with an architectural and historical significance that influenced by several architecture styles including a traditional Malay architecture, the Portuguese architecture, the Dutch architecture, and the architecture styles brought by British (e.g. Moorish, Tudor, Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic). Most of them are worthy to be listed as Heritage Buildings or National Heritage Buildings under the National Heritage Act 2005 (Act 645). The Malaysian government is undertaking many efforts to promote conservation and preservation of heritage buildings in the country. Some of the buildings have been changed to different functions from its original (adaptive-reuse) such as into museums, libraries, offices or hotels. It is however, in the past few years there are few priceless heritage buildings were badly damaged or burnt down by fire includes the People Museum, Melaka (2001), Rumah Pak Ali , Gombak (2003) and Sarawak Club, Kuching (2006). In one case, it was given a total loss approximately up to MYR 5 millions. Fire is one of the greatest threats to heritage buildings not only to the building's occupants but also to the building's fabric and contents. Heritage buildings are irreplaceable but vulnerable to fire as there is a combination of several factors: large scale buildings; flammable priceless contents; large numbers of visitors; and existing structures weak on fire resistance. Unfortunately, until today, there are relatively no sufficient legislations or guidelines on fire safety for heritage buildings in Malaysia. In fact, the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (FRDM) stressed the safety of life is the ultimate principle of fire safety in a building. Property protection which includes protection to building's fabrics and contents of heritage buildings is not really been prioritised. The purpose of this research is to investigate the current fire safety management in heritage buildings in Malaysia through a series of interview and observation surveys. In this research, thirty seven heritage buildings have been surveyed as a building sampling. The finding found that most of the buildings are still having a poor fire safety management. From the survey, seventeen leading fire safety management problems in the buildings have been identified.
Purpose
– Disasters provide physical, social, economic, political and environmental development windows of opportunity particularly through housing and infrastructure reconstruction. The reconstruction process should not be neglected due to the opportunistic nature of facilitating innovation in development. In this respect, post‐disaster “infrastructure” reconstruction plays a critical role in development discourse and is often essential to sustain recovery after major disasters. However, reconstruction following a natural disaster is a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological, and technological aspects. There are significant development benefits of well‐developed “Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies” and, for many reasons, the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted following a disaster. In this respect, a research study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio‐economic development process from a qualitative stance. The purpose of this paper is to document part of this research study; it proposes an approach that can be used to assess the influence of the application of the DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction on socio‐economic development.
Design/methodology/approach
– The research methodology included a critical literature review.
Findings
– This paper suggests that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio‐economic development is to assess the level of impact that DRR strategies has on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities. Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio‐economic development.
Originality/value
– This paper primarily presents a framework for the concept of socio‐economic development and a modelled classification of DRR practices.
Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to explore community resilience during the short-term stages of recovery of Wittenberge in 1945, surrender in the final months of the Second World War and the commencement for the town of Soviet administration; with comments on longer-term contexts of continued resilience and recovery to the present day. The paper examines origins and current use of the term “resilience” for comparison with its realities that are identified.
Design/methodology/approach
– Translated extracts of a chronology of events in Wittenberge during 1945 (Muchow) are the basis of an exploration of social impacts for a town in wartime of exhaustion, defeat, surrender, political change and impoverishment.
Findings
– Current interpretations of social resilience frequently do not match its reality, largely due to overuse of the word. Resilience is conditioned by circumstances that cannot be assumed, sudden change here being part of the war experience, not a consequence.
Research limitations/implications
– Whereas other research (e.g. Hewitt) has considered the social impact of mass bombing during the second World War, this paper takes the example of a single town in an exposed geographical situation which is described.
Originality/value
– Whereas Second World War military history continues to be repeatedly re-examined, its social impacts are comparatively understated. This paper offers a rare example in English of the experience of a small town in Germany in 1945.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify, analyse and document local traditional indicators used in drought forecasting in the Mzingwane Catchment and to assess the possibility of integrating traditional rainfall forecasting, using the local traditional indicators, with meteorological forecasting methods.
Design/methodology/approach
– Self-administered structured questionnaires were conducted on 101 respondents in four districts of the Mzingwane Catchment area, namely, Beitbridge, Mangwe, Esighodini and Mwenezi from February to August 2012. In addition, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were also used in data collection and the collected data were analysed for drought history and demographics; drought adaptation and the use of drought forecasting methods in the catchment using Statistical Package for Social Science.
Findings
– The paper reveals the growing importance of precipitation forecasts among Mzingwane communities, particularly the amount, timing, duration and distribution of rainfall. Rainfall was cited as the major cause of drought by 98 per cent of the respondents in the catchment. Whilst meteorological rainfall forecasts are available through various channels, they are not readily accessible to rural communities. Furthermore, they are not very reliable at local level. The paper shows that communities in the Mzingwane Catchment still regard local traditional knowledge forecasting as their primary source of weather forecasts. The paper finds that plant phenology is widely used by the local communities in the four districts for drought forecasting. Early and significant flowering of Mopane trees (Colophospermum mopane) from September to December has been identified to be one of the signals of poor rainfall season in respect to quantity and distribution and subsequent drought. Late and less significant flowering of Umtopi trees (Boscia albitrunca) from September to December also signals a poor rainfall season.
Originality/value
– The paper fulfils an identified need to study and document useful traditional drought indicators. Furthermore, the paper provides a platform for possible integration of traditional drought forecasting and meteorological forecasting and ensure sustainable rural livelihood development. The paper is useful to both meteorological researchers and resource-constrained communities in Mzingwane Catchment.
Purpose
– To confront the increasingly devastating impacts of disasters and the challenges that climate change is posing to disaster risk management (DRM) there is an imperative to further develop DRM. The resilience approach is emerging as one way to do this, and in the last decade has been strongly introduced into the policy arena, although it is not new for DRM practitioners and researchers. Nevertheless, resilience is a highly contested issue, and there is no agreed definition of it, which has resulted in confusion for stakeholders when applying it to practice. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how resilience is framed by researchers and DRM practitioners.
Design/methodology/approach
– The analytical framework used was Hajer's “social-interactive discourse theory”, combined with analysis of government documents, in-depth interviews with practitioners and observation of field and practices within the context of the Natural Disaster Resilience Program in Queensland, Australia.
Findings
– One of the key findings is that the idea of “bouncing back” is central to the resilience discourse but different interpretations of this idea results in real-world implications. Three different ways (storylines) in which practitioners construct the meaning of disaster resilience emerge from this study. Importantly the divergences between these storylines reveal possibilities for reframing to occur and these could lead to different policy options and practices.
Originality/value
– The results presented in this paper offer empirical evidence on how resilience is understood on the ground, contributing to extending resilience theory and informing DRM and resilience practice.
The planet is divided between people who are alive and those who are deceased. However, a sizable portion belongs to people who have not yet been born. Anticipatory and participative development techniques are necessary for informed decision-making on the best use of natural resources and sustainable development to ensure that development and environmental health go hand in hand. One of these tools is the environmental impact assessment (EIA). This essay aims to define the idea of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and analyse its numerous components, including its basic ideals, guiding principles, shortcomings, and recommendations for improvement.
The concept of community disaster resilience (CDR) has become one of the most popular terms in disaster literature. This concept is recognized as a culture-bound phenomenon that is influenced by diverse domains and indicators in any specific culture. This qualitative study uses content analysis to explore conceptual and working definitions, as well as domains and indicators of CDR in Iranian context. CDR is defined as “The ability of a community to coexist, cope with, and manage disasters through an integrated, comprehensive, participatory and positive approach.” Seeking a working definition, CDR explores as “The level of hazards that a community absorbs with no damage, the level of main functions that remains active, and the period a community needs to return to normal conditions.” CDR in Iran is formed by social, managerial, economic, cultural, physical, and environmental domains and as a holistic approach that makes disaster management effective and efficient.
The provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene in schools has been established to improve health, boost educational achievement, and promote gender equity which has a positive impact on the society. The aim of this pilot study is to ascertain the state of WASH program in public secondary schools in South-Western Nigeria. A total of twelve schools which span across three Local Government areas in two States (Lagos and Ogun), in South-Western Nigeria were selected. The standard for WASH in schools by UNICEF was used as the guiding principles to evaluate the adequacy of the various WASH components. Out of the 12 public secondary schools visited, only 3 (25%) had drinking water points (boreholes) and 40% of the schools do not have separate latrines for boys and girls, and for promoting privacy of older girls. Only 1 (10%) of the schools had hand washing points but without soap and there is no plan in the schools for advancing WASH program. This study reveals that the present WASH practice in many of the schools is not adequate.
This article describes the development and field testing of the Rural Resilience Index (RRI), an applied disaster resilience assessment index for use in rural and remote communities. The index was generated as part of the Rural Disaster Resilience Project. This community-centered action research project was designed to respond to the global emphasis on increasing the capacity of all communities, large and small, to meet the growing challenge of disasters, climate change, and other threats. The goals of the project were to produce resilience assessment and planning tools that could be used by communities to generate locally relevant data on their current resilience and be able to monitor and enhance their resilience over time. This article describes the development and field testing of the RRI, which is designed as a user-friendly, process-based, qualitative resilience assessment tool. The RRI emphasizes the value of citizen engagement in resilience planning and a whole-of-community approach to resilience addressing issues such as the quality and availability of local resources, expertise, skills, and services; governance issues; economic and employment issues; culture; disaster preparedness; and emergency management planning.
Purpose
– Contributing to the global dialogue on disaster risk reduction (DRR), the purpose of this paper is to address a key priority for the Post-2015 Framework for DRR (HFA2) by analysing initiatives used by one local government to increase local-level engagement in DRR.
Design/methodology/approach
– A review of literature from the multidisciplinary areas of communication, social and political theory examines the role that communication theory and practice can play in facilitating public participation to build community resilience. Building on these insights, the authors introduce a research methodology to examine modes of communication, the quality of dialogue and opportunities for “voice” and “listening” between decision makers and local-level stakeholders during DRR planning A qualitative, case study is undertaken with data sourced from observation, document analysis and interviews to provide insights into public engagement events, policies and procedures that enhance or impede local engagement in DRR.
Findings
– Communication between the DRR campaign team and publics are analysed according to the range of communication practices used and opportunities provided for dialogue between parties. Findings differentiate between public information, consultation and participation events. Factors that enable and conversely, constrain local-level engagement to build community resilience, and conditions associated with each factor, are identified.
Research limitations/implications
– A unique analytical framework adapted from the duel lenses of participatory communication and information flow models, is used to differentiate events using one-way information from those offering opportunities for dialogue and participation. The framework provides a method for DRR practitioners to plan and evaluate local-level engagement events to meet the communication needs of particular situations.
Practical implications
– The framework provides a method for DRR practitioners to plan and evaluate local-level engagement events to meet the communication needs of particular situations.
Originality/value
– Co-authored by an Australian academic and a member of Amadora’s campaign team, the paper is a combination of one city’s experience in developing strategies to build community resilience, analysed using communication, social and political theory. Findings have implications for standard command-and-control management systems and styles of leadership and crisis management. Results will assist practitioners’ advance their understanding of different ways that publics may be engaged to build community resilience.
This paper examined the concept of disaster and its management in the light of sustainable development with particular reference to Nigeria. It enumerated the different human and natural phenomena that could be characterized as disasters. It was discovered that, while hazard and/ or disasters posses anthropogenic origins, their consequences are felt on both human and the physical environments. In all cases, the human tolls have been significant. The paper highlighted the important elements of a typical Disaster Management
Information System in Nigeria. After presenting a typology of disasters in Nigeria, the paper, advocated for a workable disaster management information system.
Existing wireless networks aim to provide information communication services between mobile nodes. When a mobile node moves between different radio networks, a handover process is needed to change its point of attachment to the predicted radio network. Since traditional (based on one metric Received Signal Strength Indicator) predictions of handover decisions do not perform well, it is imperative that we develop an intelligent approach to facilitate the handover prediction process, thus yielding seamless handovers. In this article, a Fuzzy logic-based Hand-off Decision (FHD) approach is proposed for wireless networks. The parameters include a Received Signal Strength Indicator and the relative direction of a Mobile Node toward an access point, which are considered as inputs to the fuzzy logic system in order to facilitate the handover decision process and a switch to the best preferable access point. To achieve a fair comparison with a standard handover procedure, we have implemented a fuzzy logic-based hand-off decision approach in Omnet++. Our simulation results show that the proposed approach is able to reduce the handover latency. More precisely, the results show that by using the proposed method, the performance improved significantly the wireless access media delay (link-layer).
Disaster risk and climate change are two of the greatest challenges currently facing human-kind-adversely reinforce each other. In the coming decade, climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of natural disasters such as drought and floods. Climate change is also likely to increase people’s vulnerability to already existing hazards in Nigeria. This is largely due to: (1) socio-economic stresses; (2) ageing and inadequate physical infrastructure; (3) weak education and preparedness for disasters; (4) insufficient financial resources to carefully implement the preparedness, response, mitigation and recovery component of integrated management.In Nigeria, climatic change – and the likely increase in related hazardous event-threatens to block people’s effort to escape poverty. Any increase in the number and scale of the disasters will threaten development gains and hinder effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals.For Nigeria as a country, climatic-related risks come not only from direct exposure to natural hazard such as floods or drought, but also from the vulnerability of social and economic system to the effects of these hazards. Climatic change is expected to intensify existing problem and create new combination of risk. Giving the existing widespread poverty and dependence on the natural environment, areas of particular concern include communities with vulnerable livelihoods; food and environmental insecurity; HIV and AIDS; gender inequalities; weak security and governance; the lack of infrastructure and education; and lack of access to appropriate resources and capacities to deal with disasters.Disaster risk management requires urgent action to reduce the impacts of extreme events before during and after they occur. A holistic management approach must include technical preventive measures, especially in the areas of the infrastructure development and aspects of socio-economic development design to reduce human vulnerability to hazards, such as increased income and the diversification of livelihoods. It should also take into account indigenous knowledge at the same time, the management of climate change impacts must consider how to reduce human vulnerability to changing levels of disaster risk.Adaptation efforts must be prioritized in communities with the highest vulnerability and the greatest need for safety and resilience built. Capacity building and capacity development are among the most urgent requirements for addressing climate risk, particularly at local levels. Developing the ability of communities to understand climate risk issues, effectively use available information, develop the necessary institutions and networks, and plan and build appropriate adaptation. Community must also evaluate, and monitor these to learn from experience.Many of these disasters are of the recurring type, and hence may be predictable. As a consequence, their risks may be mitigated through advance planning and preparation, and a number of African governments are doing just that. Inspired by the Hyogo Framework for Action, the flagship global instrument in the area of disaster risk reduction, and the African Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy, governments across the continent have been strengthening institutions, plans and mechanisms to increase their capacities for disaster management.In order to establish a firm foundation for these efforts, African countries like Nigeria need comprehensive and strong disaster laws. It is against this background that this paper seeks to achieve the following objectives: i. provide conceptual clarification of relevant key terms; ii. establish the nexus between disaster risk management (DRM) and sustainable development (SD); iii. review NEMA Act, 1999 in order to identify gaps; iv. examine challenges impeding DRM and future prospects in Nigeria; v. provide strategies on how to address the challenges identified and gaps found including lessons learnt from good practices on disaster management legislations; and to vi. conclude with some recommendations.
Purpose
– Lagos is flooded perennially due to its low-lying coastal location. Empirical studies on the impacts of the disaster and humanitarian relief for the victims are scanty. The purpose of this paper is to assess the causes and severity of the floods, the aids to victims and the supply chains in six flood-prone local government areas (LGAs) of the metropolis comparatively.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected using a questionnaire instrument that was administered to 292 victims and/or residents of 42 flooded neighborhoods in six LGAs of Lagos in the years 2010-2012. The administration was some few weeks after major incidences were reported for the respective years.
Findings
– The results show that floods are recurrent in the areas during every wet season (between May and October), emanate from both natural and human-induced causes and lead to large-scale human displacement and loss of assets. Humanitarian reliefs are from neighbors, spiritual homes and relatives mostly and are supplied directly to victims. These suggest gloomy implications for sustainable disaster management, humanitarian services and supply chains. Areas for further studies are highlighted.
Originality/value
– Studies in humanitarian relief and supply chains are scanty in the part of the world. The paper is original and not been considered for publication elsewhere.
The hazard of and damage caused by flooding cannot be overemphasized in terms of loss of life, property, displacement of people and disruption of Socio-economic activities as well as the loss of valuable agricultural land due to the attendant inundation of flood plains from floods. Urban flooding is gradually becoming a serious ecological problem in Nigeria. Several areas along the coast of the Atlantic ocean and along major river valleys are affected by floods every year. To gain better understanding of the flood problem especially for planning purposes, flood risk maps are often required. A combination of recent data on flood plains such as land use/cover, river/flood stage, and digital elevation models are used to predict future flood stages and likely impacts. In addition, extreme value statistical models such as the Gumbel's, distribution are used to determine flood frequencies and different return periods of flood hazards of certain magnitudes. Remote sensing and GIS and results of analysis of flood stage data using Gumbel's Extreme distribution model and a combination of Digital elevation model and land use/land cover data were used to estimate the extent of flood inundations in different flood return periods in Kaduna Metropolis. Areas under high risk due to flooding were also determined. The study revealed that most of the areas lying close to the River Kaduna's flood plain are under severe threat to flooding in different flood return periods.
Purpose
– Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Lebanon are among the most active groups supporting community welfare and advocating for human rights and policy reform. However, these organizations still lack the basic awareness and commitment needed to expand their role in earthquake disaster risk reduction. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the exposure of Lebanon to destructive earthquakes and to address the urgent need for CSOs to expand its contribution in earthquake disaster risk reduction supporting public awareness programs and strategic mitigation plans.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper sets out to alert CSOs about the seismic hazards of Lebanon and offers a discussion for an active engagement role of Lebanese CSOs in future earthquake disaster risk reduction. The focus is to outline a strategy that may facilitate the engagement of CSOs in building the resilience of Lebanese community against destructive earthquakes.
Findings
– The proposed strategic plan suggests a leading role of Lebanese universities that call for the establishment of a disaster mitigation coalition leading to CSOs active involvement and effective contribution in collaborating with government and private sector to enhance the resilience capacity of the Lebanese community against future earthquake events.
Originality/value
– The implication of the paper is beneficial to community leaders of Lebanon because it highlights the importance of direct engagement of CSOs in earthquake disaster risk reduction which has never been previously emphasized, evaluated or even discussed in the Lebanese studies.
Integrating scientific and local knowledge within disaster risk reduction (DRR) using methods that encourage knowledge exchange and two‐way dialogue is a difficult yet important task. This article shows how participatory mapping can help in fostering integrative DRR through the involvement of a large range of stakeholders. It draws on a project conducted in the municipality of Masantol, Philippines that is regularly affected by flooding and other natural hazards. Participatory 3‐Dimensional Mapping, or P3DM, has been used for both risk assessment and DRR planning. P3DM facilitates the interpretation, assimilation and understanding of geo‐referenced data by making them visible and tangible to everyone. Given that maps are scaled and geo‐referenced, P3DM also helps in incorporating both local and scientific knowledge through a two‐way dialogue in DRR.