How can we improve preparedness and flood resilience?
Remarkable progress from science and technology allow us to collect, share, and process data that can help anticipate and address risks when extreme rains occur upstream. This is especially true where hydropower dam operators partner with humanitarian organizations and government entities to improve emergency preparedness plans and flood resilience for communities downstream of dams. Much can be done to improve early warnings, and link them to early action. Crowdsourcing can certainly help. Would you like to give a hand? We are looking for volunteers who can help us map what matters.
With support from GFDRR, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and other partners, we've developed an innovative approach to flood risk management downstream of hydropower dams, in the contexts of financial and data scarcity. See this blog from the International Hydropower Association and this news piece about the global innovation award. In essence: in collaboration with partners in Togo, we have created a system that combines machine learning and Forecast-based Financing to effectively integrate information, decisions, and consequences. When upstream rainfall and reservoir levels indicate that inundation downstream is likely, a message is automatically transmitted to Togo Red Cross, who can release funds from the Forecast-based Financing system, supported by the German Red Cross, to activate preparedness measures before the flood hits.
To extend this innovation to other locations in developing countries, it is necessary to better understand the nature of vulnerability and exposure downstream of dams. Which are the populated areas where disaster managers should focus their attention if an overspill is inevitable or if dam operators announce early releases? Valuable spatial information can emerge from an analysis of satellite imagery. Crowdsourcing approaches can accelerate the delineation of hydropower dams and residences to support analysis for improving flood preparedness, planning, and resilience.
The aim of this project is to build the analytical foundations for adapting the Togo innovation in locations downstream of hydropower dams where the Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies and partners can help to strengthen emergency preparedness plans. We aim to do so by pursuing two specific objectives: (1) capturing all hydropower dams in Open Street Map (OSM); and (2) mapping residences and other relevant structures likely to be affected by peak floods downstream of dams.
Thanks for your support!