In a workshop on the restitution of risk maps on December 14, the government of Burundi received from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a multirisk map of Burundi per municipality. The Director General of Civil Protection says that this tool will be useful in the prevention of risks and disasters.
According to Anicet Nibaruta, Director General of Civil Protection and Disaster Management, the mapping referred to five hazards including torrential rains, floods, landslides, high winds and earthquakes.
He said that the terms of reference did not take drought into account when drawing up the map: “Knowing its impact on food and nutritional security, we recommend that the team of national experts be able to integrate this hazard as well as other new risks ”.
Regarding the usefulness of multi-risk mapping, Anicet Nibaruta indicates that it will allow the government of Burundi to better understand risks and disasters in order to better manage them.
“Different actors in national life will refer to it to establish sectoral planning for socio-economic development. These are essentially the sectors of infrastructure, agriculture, town planning, land use planning and land services, ”explains Anicet Nibaruta. He added that we can no longer speak of development without taking into account the concept of risks.
The Director General of Civil Protection recalls that multi-risk mapping is an anticipation and decision-making tool to better prepare for risk management.
For Jérémie Nyogoza, adviser in the Land Titles and National Cadastre Directorate, multi-risk mapping will also be beneficial in the land titles sector: “It will help us to adjust our services with current data as well as appropriate planning in relation to land titles. to the plans we have ”.
He explains that the land titles sector had old maps and cadastral plans that no longer correspond to current realities.
According to him, the cadastral management will have to take climate change into account in the future so that people looking for title deeds or plots for investments will have to be directed to areas that are not at risk.
Of 113,408 displaced people estimated by IOM in September 2021, 83% were displaced by natural disasters. According to the same organization, risk mapping is designed to create a culture of understanding risks that can lead to the creation of early warning systems, contingency plans and mitigation.