SUMMARY OF STARTUP
For many years, natural disasters such as drought, floods, epidemics, mudflows and landslides
have claimed the lives of many Kenyans, displaced some, devastated others, destroyed property
and infrastructure and crippled the economy. Predictions show that developing countries will be
worst affected by the increasing effects of climate change since they have the lowest capacity to
mitigate and adapt to it. This means that, natural disasters will increase in frequency, severity and
magnitude causing massive damage and many deaths.
There is urgent need to adopt modern technologies devised to inform and prepare people for
foreseen disasters to facilitate rapid response and recovery from the same. Many of the existing
disaster forecasting equipment in Kenya are either inaccurate or outdated. The use of modern
spatial technologies in mapping and modelling of natural disasters is gradually picking up in the
country. However, the cost and labour specifications required to generate data using geo-spatial
technologies makes the final product expensive and not readily available to the public.
Ujumbe will be a web based application that will incorporate the use of open source geo-spatial
technologies. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software will be used
in mapping and monitoring of natural disasters, risk modelling, vulnerability analysis and damage
assessment. Ujumbe will use these technologies to give real-time information on early disaster
forecasts, hazard location, populations at risk, level of severity, safe spots and evacuation routes
and mitigation measures for each disaster foreseen. This information will facilitate effective
disaster preparation. In the event of a disaster, GIS and remote sensing will provide rapid damage
analysis to determine the extent of the damage for accurate response and recovery strategies.
All data obtained from mapping of natural disasters using geo-spatial technologies will be
available to the public via the user friendly easy to access web application. Decision makers and
professionals in natural disaster management can use this data to influence the decisions that will
be made in relation to disaster management.