Assessment of community-based flood early warning system in Malawi

Abstract

One of the major natural hazards the world is facing these days are floods. Malawi has not been spared. Floods have affected the countries’ socio-economic developmental plans. River gauges have been installed along major rivers to monitor water levels in a bid to warn communities of imminent flooding. In Malawi, ever since the installation of river gauges no study has been done to assess their effectiveness. This study examines the effectiveness of these river gauges as part of community-based early warning system. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative approach. Questionnaires, interviews, group discussions, document analysis were all used in order to understand the behavioural aspect of communities under study. The current community-based early warning system practices were benchmarked against the following elements: risk knowledge, technical monitoring and warning services, dissemination and communication of warnings and response capability. The study revealed that Malawi has two distinct systems in place: at national level (managed by several government departments) and at community level [managed by Civil Protection Committees (CPCs)]. These systems were installed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and faith-based organisations. Apparently, no direct link exists between the two. Operational bureaucracy affects the speedy presentation of warning messages at national level. Lack of capacity and necessities affects the operation of the community-based system. Despite the efforts to develop the early warning systems, the failures outweigh the successes. Government needs to provide enough funding for systems sustainability, build capacity of CPCs and install more technologically advanced systems.

Local wisdom-based flood early warning system: a case study on Glintung Water Street (GWS) Malang City

“…The government's lack of attention to disasters in Glintung Village, Blimbing District, has encouraged local communities to start disaster management based on local wisdom. With a combination of local wisdom and a web-based flood early warning system, it is hoped that it will help synthesize natural disaster management policies that are effective enough to minimize losses due to flooding [4], [5].…”

An overview of Volume 14, No 1 (2022)

“…In the face of this unequally distributed risk, there is strong evidence presented in this collection as to the efficacy of community-centred approaches to both risk management and research about risk management. Nkombi and Wentink ( 2022 ) investigate public participation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), while Chinguwo and Deus ( 2022 ) show how more resources must be allocated for community-based early warning systems, and the disconnect with more regional and national systems resolved. Communities often receive outside support, and Shah et al ( 2022 ) explore inter-agency collaboration.…”