Inventories of natural hazards in under-reported regions: a multi-method insight from a tropical mountainous landscape

ABSTRACT

Impacts of natural hazards are on an increase globally. To mitigate these impacts, sound disaster risk reduction strategies must rely on comprehensive inventory of natural hazards. However, to date, many regions worldwide still suffer from a dearth of information. The goal of our research is to assess how, with limited means and several methods, environments that are typically under-researched can be covered with accurate information on which further research aiming at understanding and mitigating disaster risk could be set out. We focus on the Kigezi highlands, an under-reported and populated tropical region of Uganda (Africa) known to be impacted by natural hazards. We conducted a multi-method multi-temporal inventory over the entire region using satellite image analysis, exploration of literature and archives, and field surveys. We also set up a network of 15 geo-observers to collect accurate space-time data on seven natural hazards. Our multi-method inventory generated a database comprising over 4000 natural hazard occurrences with frequent natural and anthropogenic interactions. Our results indicate that Kigezi highlands is a hotspot for natural hazards associated with extensive risks, whose numbers are underestimated. We therefore highlight the importance of working with a multiple-method approach in characterizing natural hazards and their interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural hazards
• hazard interactions
• inventory
• citizen science
• transdisciplinary
• Africa

Acknowledgments

We thank Esther Namara from the Mountains of the Moon University for her support in setting up the geo-observer network. Special thanks goes to Dr François Kervyn from the Royal Museum for Central Africa for his support. We also appreciate the geo-observer network of Kigezi and the District officials from Kabale, Rubanda, and Kisoro Districts for supporting this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received financial support from the Directorate-General Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid of Belgium through the HARISSA (Natural Hazards, RISks and Society in Africa): developing knowledge and capacities; RMCA-DGD 2019–2024; https://georiska.africamuseum.be/en/activities/harissa) funded by Development Cooperation programme of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. This study also received extra support by the Flemish Inter University Council (VLIR-UOS) through the TEAM project (UG2019TEA492A105) ‘Digital citizen science for community-based resilient environmental management (D-SiRe). The research also benefited from the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) through the PAStECA (Historical Aerial Photographs and Archives to Assess Environmental Changes in Central Africa; BELSPO BRAIN-be programme, contract no. BR/165/A3/PASTECA) and the GEOTROP (GEOmorphic hazards and compound events in a changing TROPical East Africa; BRAIN-be programme, contract no. B2/223/P1/GEOTROP) projects.