East Africa Cyclone Flooding - Tanzania

Populations residing in low-lying coastal areas face extensive risk of damage to housing and infrastructure due to flooding. Low-income households are subjected to three times the risks of damage and more than twice the level of vulnerability to flooding. The East African coast is currently experiencing heightened flood-related damages due to the ongoing coastal cyclones, extreme rainfall, and storms. The damage is exacerbated by the lack of sufficient data to inform research and planning for disaster resilience measures. This project aimed to understand the level of vulnerability of coastal housing and infrastructure to flooding and coastal storms to support the assessment of the extent of vulnerability of housing structures in low-lying coastal contexts within the East African Coast. We collected data to achieve this goal by mapping the current extent of housing damage and features of structures exposed to future flooding along the coastal areas of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. This study was part of the larger Belmont Forum research project led by Dr. Esther Obonyo from The Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Given Mhina from Ardhi University. This specific Graduate Scholar research project sought to understand the vulnerability of housing structures based on their proximity to hazard sources and walling material types. The output from this mapping exercise provides a rich source of 360 imaging data, RAPP images, and 3D models of damage to housing and infrastructure subjected to intensive flooding along the East African Coast. The data can support further research in civil engineering, housing and infrastructure, and environmental vulnerabilities in the covered areas. The data can further inform recommendations for material options that can perform better in flood-prone coastal areas in East Africa. It can also support social science research by linking the current
condition of housing in communities exposed to flooding with other societal impacts of extreme flooding. The upcoming output of this study will contribute to research on coastal flood-resilient construction and inform the development of building codes in this
area.
The accompanying Hazmapper map displays subsampled point clouds; please download the full point cloud files for analysis.