Research Helps Rwanda Boost Capability of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

Rwanda, located in central and east Africa, is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. Rwanda has a temperate tropical highland climate, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. 

Global warming has caused a change in the pattern of the rainy seasons. According to reports, change in climate has reduced the number of rainy days experienced during a year, but has also caused an increase in frequency of torrential rains. 

Heavy rainfall brings flood and debris flow, while dry seasons are suffered from drought. Natural disasters lead to huge social and economical damage to the country every year, including destruction of infrastructure and spread of diseases. 

Science can help out. Scientists offered their help. Researchers from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography led by LI Lanhai hope to assess the impact of early alert and community involvement in disaster risk reduction, thus help Rwanda to boost its capability of disaster prevention and mitigation. 

LI and his team employed a quota sampling method to obtain a sample of 240 households from 12 sectors of Rwanda’s Nyabihu District in 2015. Data collected from the questionnaire was analyzed and showed that the frequently experienced disasters are floods and landslides.  

Lack of disaster-related information and early warning increase the risk vulnerability and incidences to the community. Their analysis indicated that the community participation in disaster risk preparedness and mitigation in the region is rather low, which will lead to ineffective coping with the disaster aftermath. 

Scientists suggested to introduce disaster-related training across the community, set up disaster courses from elementary schools, establish more meteorological stations for weather forecast and disaster warning. Also, based on their study, the researchers encourage the local community to participate more in decision-making process, and secure a sustainable development in Rwanda. 

“Natural disasters’ socioeconomic and environmental losses are predicted to rise, unless early warning, full stakeholders and community involvement in the mitigation, adaptation and risk reduction are squarely engaged,” said LI. 

Their study was published on Natural Hazards, entitled “Early alert and community involvement: Approach for disaster risk reduction in Rwanda”.