ASSESSMENT OF RAINSTORM DISASTER AND COMMUNITY RESPONSE IN BIDA AND ENVIRONS, NIGER STATE,NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Rainstorm Disaster is one of the challenges aspect that involve the interaction between man and environment of a wider public concern in the problem of environmental pollution and control. The reduction of the risk of this rainstorm disaster is a major concern to the research work as this natural disaster cannot be stopped but their devastating Effect can be reduced to the barest minimum.The need to sample the opinion of the residence in the study area on how they have been coping with the incidence of rainstorm disaster is of great importance.Findings shows that no landuse is free from this disaster in as much as the land use is vulnerable to effect of the disaster and this effect can be seen in the physical destruction of human abode which is a catalyst to urban decay. This destruction could be in small scale or large scale.Findings suggest that the mitigation strategies employed is such that needs government attention, if the welfare of the citizens is government responsibility. This is because the mitigation strategies have devastating implication to life and property. By the recommendation, Bida town and environs will achieve disaster risk reduction and management if the recommendation is adhered to which is a catalyst for sustainable development because no meaningful economic development without improvement in infrastructure facilities.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

Disaster is an extremely devastating events within the natural and man-made environment, with  huge  economic,  social  and  environmental  losses    (Samuel,2009).Disasters  are  the major cause of great lost both to living and nonliving things.  However, disasters don’t just occur  on  their  own;  they  are  usually  triggered  by  man’s  influence  or  developmental activities leading to lost of life and property. Disasters are experienced in our environment when life support system fails in the face of pressure from external stress, resulting in lost of life, damage to property and undermining of livelihoods (Dare, 2010).

Niger state is located within the north central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is blessed with different types of natural and human resources. Theoretically speaking, almost all the local governments in Niger State are exposed to disaster in one form or the other. All these are called disaster because of the huge negative impact to human environment. They are natural hazard which has the potential of becoming full fledge disaster, especially when it strikes an unprepared  human environment ( Habiba,2011).

The occurrence of rain and windstorms disasterin many parts of the world and particularly in Nigeria are keeping many homes miserable.Rainstorm disaster which is a seasonal type of natural disaster often affect and displace people and destroy property and farmlands. Bida been situated in a valley created by the river Landzu flowing right across the heart of the town as created a ready scenario for rainstorm and associated disaster, (Yakatun,2010) . None of the disaster can be treated in isolation since no one knows what may result as the trend of natural forces may reverse themselves at   any   given time. However, man must preserve the environment through peaceful means and there must be calculated attempts to preserve the environment ( Dare.2010).

Community response in the process of informing the general population of the community, increasing  level  of  consciousness  about    risk  and  how  people  can  act  to  reduce  their exposure to hazards. This is particularly important for community officials in fulfilling their responsibilities to save lives and property in the events of a disaster and also to improve the understanding of disaster issues, especially among the general public, school children, women,  and  to  also  mobilize indigenous  and  traditional  practice of early warning and mitigation initiatives.

Community  response  activities  foster  changes  in  behavior  towards  a  culture  of  risk reduction.  This  involves  community  information  dissemination,  education,  radio  or television broadcasts, use of printed media, as well as the establishment of information centres and networks, and the community participation ( Salisuet al, 2010) .

The outcome of a disaster is understood to bring about a vulnerable individual or society being hit by a human made or natural event. The vulnerability of an individual or society can be alleviated  through short term coping and longer term adaptations that adjust human actions to minimize risk impact or outcomes. It is in the   light of this that there is the need to study the various rainstorm disasters and   community response adopted in Bida local government area which has increased the society’s   resilience to a frequently occurring disaster.

1.2      Statement of Research Problem

The  rainstorm  disaster  has overtime been exacerbated by human activities. Such activities are basically due to indiscriminate and unwise land uses, have direct negative impact on the people and their welfare. This could also be as a result of cumulative action of natural and geographical processes on land and nature (Samuel,2009). The magnitude of disaster is not determined  by  rainstorm  disaster  alone  but  also  by  the  pattern  of  vulnerability of  the location in which people live. The lives and livelihoods of many poor people are hardest hit by rainstorm disaster. Many impacts of rainstorm are similar to other disasters although their magnitude, nature and scale may vary and these impacts could be caused in different ways.

Bida  local  government  experiencedrainstorm  disasters  which    occured    in  recent  and previous years   affected many wards in the town and environs. Many mud houses were badly damaged, the roads and streets were over flooded with rain water. Wards like Esso, Landzu, Banyaggi, Bariki and Wadata, were overflowed as the rainstorm also destroyed economic trees, buildings, and electric poles. Victims of this disaster include, peasants and retired civil servants. Federal Polytechnic structures; all were seriously hit by the storm, that some of its lecture rooms and laboratory equipment were lost to the disaster. Government establishments like secondary schools, part of Federal Medical Center, shops, mosques, residential buildings, were also not left out.

This work intends to examine the causes and effects of rainstorm on the health, livelihood and environment of the people living in Bida Local Government Area and environs. It will also take into account the role planning, especially disaster planning and management can play in ameliorating the situation whenever it occurs. Planning intervention to achieve stable ecological equilibrium, convenience, aesthetics, fostering of social values, functional and efficient   economic environment with a decent and aesthetically pleasing physical environment. When the environment becomes degraded, all forms of life are threatened. Therefore we need to ensure  that our activities do not damage the diversity and integrity  of nature.

Effective management   of the environment is essential if we are to reduce the impacts of natural disasters and the risk associated with environmental degradation in Nigeria and the world at large. The high incidence of rainstorm in Nigeria particularly in Bida and environs is such that has rendered a lot of people homeless, destroyed large parcel of farmland which indirectly affects socioeconomic aspects of urban life and livelihood activities.

1.3  Aim and Objectives

1.3.1  Aim

The aim of this research is to assess rainstorm disaster and community response  in Bida local government area and its environs. This is to highlight possible prevention measures that can eliminate rain storm disasters in urban areas, of Niger State and Nigeria at large.

1.3.2  Objectives

i.      To assess the physical extent of damage resulting from the rainstorm disaster.

ii.      To examine the socio-economic effects of rainstorm in the study area.

iii.      To identify mitigation strategies as a response used by those affected by the rainstorm disaster.

iv.      To offer recommendations that will further strengthen disaster mitigation practices in urban areas.

1.4    Research  Question

This research project will cover physical assessment of the rainstorm damages, strategies employed to cope with rainstorm disasters, and the level of the people response in Bida local government area of Niger State, Nigeria.

Field work revealed Language barrier as one major impediment to this study while administering questionnaires   to respondents who have little or no formal education. However, with the help of interpreters the problem was overcomeand bias attitude of respondent to qualitative research, has further added hurdles to smooth and near perfect achievement of research objective.

1.5   Justification of Research

The people that have worked on similar studies are few (Ibrahim 2007, Samuel, 2009,Dare, 2010, Mike, 2010) thus, the need to undertake this study to further the frontiers of knowledge. Therefore, it is obvious that natural disaster cannot be stopped but their devastating consequences can be reduced by building resistance and community response which will make success of strategies to cope with the event whenever it happens.

1.6   Study Area

Bida local government is about 87 kilometres south west of Minna, the Niger State capital. The local government area is  generally situated in the southern Guinea savannah zone of Nigeria. The local government shares boundary with Gbako and Lavun local government areas. Bida local government is one of the 25 local government area that makes up the present Niger State.

It   is   the   third   largest   city   in   Niger   State,   with   an   estimated   population   of 178,840(Census,2006).  Bida  is  on  latitude  90   60N  and  longitude  6010E  on  the  Nupe sandstone formation. It is located 19kms east of River Kaduna, along Mokwa- Bida road and about 87kms south-west of Minna the Niger State capital. The major ethnic group is Nupe. Bida is the headquarters of the Nupe Kingdom led by the EtsuYahayaAbubakar and consisting of many districts, such as Katcha, Lapai, Mokwa, Enagi, Baddeggi, Agaie,Pategi,Lemu, Kutigi, and others. The leadership style of the ancient town of Bida is emirship, and the head of the town is addressed as EtsuNupe.Figure 1.1 and 1.2 shows the geographical location of Niger State in Nigeria and Bida Local Government in Niger State.

₦8,000.00 – DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT Added to cart

---

---

---

---

Related Project Topics :