Slum dwellers in Tanzania use drones to map flood risk

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AA) - Slum dwellers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest commercial city, are using innovative drone technology to map street assets and digitize low-lying land areas to minimize flood risk and improve access to public services.

Drone technology is becoming increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for community mapping, providing an affordable and flexible solution for gathering information critical for effective flood risk assessment and response, officials said.

Drone imagery is processed and transformed into digital maps, which will be used by local authorities to assess flood risk and determine effective flood control measures to protect the community.

Under a community initiative, dubbed Ramani Huria, which means Open Map in Swahili, authorities in the Dar es Salaam city have teamed up with local communities living in informal settlements to create accurate maps of their localities, which officials will use to reduce flood risks and improve disasters response.

Juliana Letara, urban planning director at Kinondoni Municipal Council in Dar es Salaam, said local residents have been trained to identify and map flood-prone areas so that authorities can respond in real time.

“We decided to involve the people to instill a sense of unity and purpose in matters that affect their lives,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Many slum areas have been mapped as part of the Ramani Huria project to create flood risk models and community resilience plans, according to Letara, who added: "The maps created by drones are very useful in pre- and post-disaster interventions."

- Darker side

While Dar es Salaam is rapidly evolving, with skyscrapers sprouting like mushrooms, the city's darker side remains, with the majority of its residents living in slums with no access to basic sanitation services.

With more than 70% of its inhabitants living in informal and unplanned settlements, the city is highly vulnerable to flooding. To reduce its impact, the authorities have teamed up with community volunteers, including university students, to draw up plans for protecting people living in low-lying flood-prone areas.

"We used drones for land mapping because they produce detailed, accurate, and high-resolution images at a much lower cost," Letara explained.

According to her, the maps are being used as an advocacy tool, with local governments referring to them to make informed decisions.

In the first phase of the project, the fully automated drone eBee mapped a section of a highway, the river and a portion of the Tandale slum, officials said.

According to Letara, exposure maps with up-to-date details have assisted planners in identifying flooded areas and pinpointing where drainage systems need to be installed.

A municipal council public health official, who spoke to Anadolu Agency, said the detailed ward maps also allowed them to identify specific houses with known cholera patients during the disease outbreak, allowing for a more efficient response through targeted dispatch of medical care.

“We have saved the lives of many people caught up in flood areas who would’ve died due to a lack of attention,” said Jacob Magoti, a physician at Mwananyamala Hospital.

On a typical hot Saturday morning in Dar es Salaam, children playing hide-and-seek in Tandale slum were filled with hope when they saw a yellow drone hovering above the sky mapping the flood-prone neighborhood.

"I saw something flying overhead, and I tried to throw a stone at it, but it flew away," Daudi Mlingi, a schoolboy from Tandale, said.

Justine Masawe, a university student working as a drone pilot, said although it was his first time involved in the mapping exercise, he really enjoyed the task.

"It feels great to be able to help my community and reduce the risk of flooding," he said.

“The new approach has significantly reduced the cost and time for high-quality cadastral mapping, while also empowering local communities to participate in mapping,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Osigili Lossai, a community leader in Tandale, said Ramani Huria maps are user-friendly and are used by people of all educational levels.

"Anyone on the street knows how to read and interpret those maps," he added.​​​​​​​