Nigeria space center develops database for flood disaster management
Hadiza Ndadama, Abuja
In an effort to curtail the effects of flooding which usually claims millions of lives and properties, The National Space Research and development Agency NASRDA has developed a database for the monitoring and assessment of flood disaster in West Africa.
The Multi Scale Flood Monitoring and Assessment Services (MiFMASS) products and Services is a support programme for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and Africa Support Program, which NASRDA’s activity center has embarked on since 2018.
Experts that converged at the event of the presentation of the project in Abuja Nigeria’s capital have deliberated on the benefits of MifMASS in providing timely information, before, during and after flood disaster as well as strengthening capacities.
The Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu who was represented by the Director of Environmental Sciences and Technology in the Ministry, Dr. Peter Ekweozoh said the presentation of this product and services is fulfilling a critical gap in flood disaster mitigation, risk reduction and management.
“Over the years there has been a gap between the need to adequately prevent, manage and mitigate flood disasters to save lives and properties. But today, this project presents the science, technology and innovation solutions as critical tools to bridge these gaps. It is noteworthy to note that the MiSMASS project was implemented by using satellite data: Earth Observation (EO) data, this again goes to justify the nation’s quest to use space science and technology to achieve environmental sustainability for attainments of sustainable goals through research, development and innovations”. He said.
The Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency NASRDA Dr. Halilu Ahmad Shaba noted that NASRDA and other stakeholders are working in convergence.
“NIMET can use a product from NASRDA, so it is a user community, NIRSAL can use a product from NASRDA, it is also a user community, NEMA all are part of user communities. This data is made available for them free of charge. This can be used to verify their prediction. This will also be used to validate what they predicted”. Dr Shaba said.
The Lead of the Consortium, who is also the Director of the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education of NASRDA Dr. Ganiy Agbaje described the project as one that has impact on the immediate community.
“We have developed flood reporter, we are going our way to have activation for SMS so that when u send an SMS to a district head, that will probably bring the fishermen to alert them whether or not to go to the sea” Dr Agbaje said.
Flood Monitoring devices capable of capturing, processing and sending signals to the database were distributed to key disaster management organizations.
