Midimar rolls out new ways to detect disasters

A new project meant to enhance measures to detect disasters has been launched. The project is expected to reduce destruction by natural disasters that have recently claimed lives and destroyed properties across the country.The initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees Affairs (Midimar), will use various technology equipment, including geographical information system (GIS), Global positioning System(GPS) as well as remote sensing machines to identify the likely disasters.A team of experts from various institutions will be set up to collect the necessary data that will later be presented to government and propose the possible mitigation measures.GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present all types of geographical data, while GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on the earth.The one year “Comprehensive disaster risk profiles for enhancing disaster management in Rwanda Project” is funded by the World Bank, European Union and UNDP.It will mainly focus on five major natural hazards which are floods, droughts, storms, landslides and earthquakes.According to the officials, $654,000 (about Rwf436 million) has been earmarked to fund the project.The project, which will cover the whole country, is also expected to produce a disaster risk profile of Rwanda in Atlas format, detailing the risk index per district, and the expected loss or damages per scenario.Launching the initiative, last week, Seraphine Mukantabana, the minister for disaster management and refugee affairs, said the project is in response to Rwanda’s vulnerability to disasters.She cited relocation and resettlement of vulnerable residents living in disaster high risk zones across the country among some of the precautionary measures that have been used.Experts on the projectJean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, the director of disaster research and public awareness, said the new mechanism would go a long way in controlling disasters.“We will detect all the possible disasters. We are putting in place a pool of specialists, including in fire fighters, environmentalists, construction experts and others,” he said.The team will be under Midimar.Last year, 75 people died as a result of disasters that high risk zones.More than 3,900 houses were demolished in the same period, while 2197.5 hectares of land were also destroyed which negatively impacted food production.Muliro Mashauri, a specialist with the new project, said there was still a huge gap of experts in some disasters like earthquakes but they will in the meantime work with an American expert who carried out research on earthquakes in the country.“We don’t have experts on earthquakes in the country, but, fortunately, there is political will to address all these issues,” he said.

National

Midimar rolls out new ways to detect disasters