The Rukuru River is to the Karonga and Rumphi districts what the Nile River is to Egypt: a source of life. It irrigates maize, rice, and banana fields, and replenishes rivers where families fish for sustenance and commerce.
Most of the time, the river peacefully cascades down from the mountains in the Chitipa district. However, since the 1970s, the Rukuru River has presented some unwelcome surprises to the people in Karonga and Rumphi: destructive floods that devastate property and claim lives.
Over the past four to five years, both the frequency and the intensity of these occurrences have escalated. Every time it rains, the river breaches its banks, ruining houses, schools, farms, and livestock, exacerbating hunger and poverty among already vulnerable communities.
This year was no exception. The floods devastated Linda Nyirenda’s rice field, leaving her family of five with virtually nothing until the next farming season. The kitchen in her home was also utterly ravaged by the floods. She is presently replanting the rice and plans to sell a portion of it to fund the restoration of her kitchen.
Drones for Good: Malawian Youths Using Drone Technology to Collecting data to Predict Flood Paths
In an effort to lessen the impact of these floods on vulnerable families such as Linda’s, UNICEF Malawi, with backing from UK-based company ARM and UNICEF’s Office of Innovation, has initiated a pilot project in the two districts. This project, an impact-based flood forecasting and early warning system, leverages high-resolution aerial imagery to support flood modelling, thereby establishing the basis for flood forecasting in disaster risk reduction.
UNICEF commissioned Globhe to collect aerial photos and generate digital terrain models for flood-prone areas. Utilizing this data, a high-resolution flood model was developed, which accurately predicts the timing, location, and magnitude of floods and mapping out potential flood paths. Globhe’s platform connects drone operators with clients in need of drone data. It’s the largest drone data marketplace in the world, with a coverage of 134 countries.”
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