GIS BASED FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT – THE CASE OF LIMPOPO RIVER BASIN IN MOZAMBIQUE

10th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2010, www.sgem.org, SGEM2010 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 20-26, 2010, Vol. 1, 1019-1026 pp

ABSTRACT

Mozambique is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural catastrophes in the world
with second highest annual per capita death rate from disasters, 328 deaths per million,
ranking only below the P.D.R of Korea; Flood disasters are responsible for half the
fatalities and a third of the economical losses from natural disasters worldwide (UNDP,
2004). The Limpopo basin, one of the nine international rivers shared by Mozambique
is the second large within the country and it benefits about 5% of the national
population.

Paradoxically, this Basin is characterized by both drought and floods, and had registered
a quite number of severe floods in the last 50 years, especially on 1955, 1967, 1972,
1975, 1977, 1981 and 2000. The 2000 floods were the most severe with water level
compared to one registered only on 1848; about 800 people were killed.

The water flow management within this basin is difficult given its geographical
distribution among the countries that are covered. Mozambique, located at downstream
side became the main victim of the floods, nevertheless the effort at regional level for
water management process. The lacking of structural mitigation measures within the
country also plays a major role for flood vulnerability. Different approaches on flood
risk management for the Limpopo river basin have be achieved among them the
stakeholder participatory approach. In this paper we will focus on the use of Information
and Communication Technology on the process of flood risk management.

This particular research paper aims to investigate and propose different scenarios of
floods risk mitigation and management through the application of Geographical
Information System. A comparative analysis of different approaches will be carried out
in order to facilitate the study. The main objective of this paper is to build a scenario
study that can facilitate the understanding of different outcomes in case of floods to the
main stakeholders.

Keywords: Floods, Risk, Mitigation, Disaster, Gis