The government of Rwanda will soon scale up artificial intelligence technology aimed to strengthen disaster prevention and early warning, preparedness and efficient response to disasters.

Rwanda faces natural disasters such as floods, landslides, hailstorm, lightening, droughts and wind among others which claim lives of people and affect the national economy in general.

An artificial intelligence-based chatbot used through an application called "Line” has been developed to enable immediate rapid reactions, before, during and after disasters in Eastern African including Rwanda under the support of UNESCO and Japanese experts according to officials.

Deus Twagiramungu, a Geological and Technological Hazard Surveillance at the Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management told The New Times that the new technology to share information for mitigation, readiness and response to disasters is automatic contrary to the existing system that was lengthy.

The technology automatically compiles all disaster information from all corners of the country in one platform and be accessible to all users for quick response, he said.

He said that at least 10 master trainers are also training all District Disaster Management Officers as a way of scaling up the technology that will ensure accurate and reliable spatial data in real or near real-time.

The developers say the technology will help to know the location and description of disasters with photos as well as to track and analyse threats to quickly identify the possible dangers and hazards.

"The system we have been using to report disasters was taking so long because officials from cell level used to send disaster information reports to sector level, then from there to district and national level to reach all institutions in charge of disaster management,” he said.

Often, he said, the process would lead to getting information after a long time saying, "the new technology is efficient and effective as it is automatic and quick considering that the information reaches those in charge of disaster management in the shortest time for early and quick intervention,” he said.

He noted that the technology has also a component of updates about ‘weather conditions’ stressing that early warning is an essential element to be considered as it warns of imminent disasters.

He said that the application used in smart phones should be used by reporting agents starting from village level to ensure disaster information is automatically reported on time from all corners of the country.

Gretta Muhimpundu, a hydro meteorologist, said that the technology has different components namely reporting disasters, disaster maps which help in warning to prevent disaster effects, weather information and checking reports on disasters in different areas adding that an ordinary citizen can also report any disaster through the application.

What District Disaster Management Officers say?

Francois Hakizimana, Disaster Management Officer in Gisagara District, said that the area faces heavy winds, floods and lightning as major disasters.

However, he said that reporting the disasters has been facing lengthy processes.

"Sometimes, some information on disasters would not reach where it should due to lengthy processes that are not efficient. That is why we were in need of software for timely and automatic reporting. It will also help us to keep data,” he said.

Aimé Adrien Nizeyimana, a Disaster Management Officer in Rutsiro District that usually experiences lightning, echoed that delay and lengthy process in reporting disasters will no longer affect early response to disasters.

"The platform coordinates all data in the shortest time and this is very helpful in disaster prevention and response,” he said.

Dominique Mvunabandi, Director of Sciences, Technology, Innovation Unit at National Commission for UNESCO, said the project to use the application of AI-based Chabot in disaster management will cost between $500,000 and $1 million in East Africa.

In 2020, about 6,000 hectares of crops and 458 hectares of forests were damaged by disasters while 290 people lost their lives as 398 were injured according to statistics from the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Of the total 2,522 number of incidents that affected the economy and lives of people, there were 84 fire incidents, 173 floods, two hailstorms, 324 landslides, 198 lightning cases , 15 mine disasters,1,550 rainstorms, 99 wildfires and 77 windstorms.

At least 8,013 houses, 95 classrooms, four health centres, 151 roads,102 bridges, 22 churches, 26 water supply systems, 96 electricity transmission lines, 16 administrative offices, six markets and one factory were damaged while 3,491 livestock died owing to disasters, reads the report.

Government is also mulling disaster funds to ensure sustainable recovery from disaster.