Contextualizing vulnerability assessment a suppor

Authors: Caroline Michellier Patrick Pigeon Francois Kervyn Eleonore Wolff

Publish Date: 2016/03/29

Volume: 82, Issue: 1, Pages: 27-42

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Abstract

In central Africa a combination of several types of major geohazards threatens the highly populated area centred on the Lake Kivu Basin and the Virunga Volcanic Province Contributing to Disaster Risk Reduction DRR policies not only go through hazards mechanisms analysis but also through vulnerability assessment This paper stresses the methodological choices made to target vulnerability assessment in a context of scarce and unreliable data We discuss here the various stages we have overcome and the analyses conducted at the local scale ie on targeted urban sites The cities of Bukavu and Goma Republic Democratic of Congo count about 800000 inhabitants each and catastrophic events are frequently recorded As a result of our analysis grounding vulnerability assessment exclusively on a general definition seems not appropriate Relevant peculiarities of the studied area should also be taken into account in vulnerability and risk assessment Our research contributes to increase the relevance of DRR policies for riskexposed populations Following one of our main concerns will be to challenge stakeholders who have to face numerous other issues on a daily basis such as security land issue or resourcesSpecial acknowledgments to Théodore Trefon and Benoît Smets from the Royal Museum for Central Africa RMCA for their critical comments Thanks also to all the local contributors scientists and representatives of local institutions and NGOs as well as to the experts who participated in the Delphi survey The current research is performed in the framework of GeoRisCA project Georisk in Central Africa funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Research programme Science for a Sustainable Development project SD/RI/02A

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