GfGD Blog Competition (Runner-Up): Natural Disasters - The importance of education in long term recovery

Our second, and final, runner-up in the GfGD Blog Competition was Daniel Sharpe, a geology student at the University of Leeds. Dan writes here about the importance of education in long-term recovery from natural hazards. You can read more of Dan's work here:

The bridge between short and long term recovery is rarely crossed in developing nations. Even in economically prosperous countries it is difficult, with aftershocks of Hurricane Katrina still rumbling through the U.S. and the more recent tsunami that ruptured the coast of Japan still having significant impacts on communities. Surely more can always be done?

Through personal experience I have seen how recovery can be slow and emotionally strenuous. In 2007 I visited the south-west coast of Sri Lanka, a region devastated by the tsunami of 2004. Two and a half years on, the entire coast was still ruined. Broken houses sat derelict, an unceremonious reminder of the lives lost. Rusting train tracks, flowers lying roadside, and crumbled memories encapsulated within the polished memorials ran parallel to the re-surfaced highway.

After the publicity subsided so did the financial aid and little could be done to continue to assist those who needed support. To protect developing communities for generations a natural response needs to be instilled in people's minds. Educating people on how to deal with hazards should be at the forefront of aid efforts. As I write this news has sparked about a magnitude 8.7 earthquake that has struck near Sumatra, very similar to that of 2004. The news now is not about the loss of life but the reaction of the local people. Granted, fortunately no tsunami proliferated from this earthquake but the immediate reaction of people was to flee to high ground. Evacuation schemes were efficient and people climbed hills and onto roofs in the knowledge that they would be safer. It can be assumed that should a tsunami have formed many lives would have been saved as a result of past experience and teaching, and this knowledge now needs passing down to younger generations; a continuation of experience and learning.

A classic case study is that of Japan. A nation that regularly suffers earthquakes, they have developed and become more educated in natural hazards and the loss of life has significantly reduced. Before 1950 the average number of deaths per earthquake was 13,000 compared to just 1,200 after, despite the average magnitude of the events being almost identical. The high level of construction quality in Japan is greatly responsible and sets an example to everyone, but with an increasing population this decrease in fatalities can also be attributed to the education of citizens. Regular earthquake drills act like fire drills in the UK, and it is now rooted in their minds how to respond should shaking ensue. 

These are two examples of how developing and now developed regions have reacted to the need for education, reducing fatalities both short and long term. China has also recognised the need for educating its citizens. In a country where deaths from natural disasters have actually increased since the millennium, the government is set to improve monitoring systems, raise public awareness and train 2.75 million people for a new disaster rescue and relief scheme. This is the attitude needed in order to reduce the loss of life in developing nations. Educating people on how to prepare, respond and relieve themselves and others from natural disasters is crucial. Coupled with a continued support from governments and NGOs the loss of life from natural disasters can be dramatically reduced; as we have seen across the Indian Ocean and Japan.

GfGD Blog Competition (Runner Up): Successes Of Geoscience In Development

A runner-up in the GfGD Blog Competition, Hudson Wereh Shiraku gives an interesting overview of the many ways in which geoscience can, and has, made a positive contribution to the lives of communities around the world. Hudson is based in the Environmental Sciences Department at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya.

As a prefix, geo is derived from a Greek word which loosely translates to “earth” usually in the sense of ground or land. Geosciences would therefore include all sciences that deal with the earth and to this end, the list is long – geology, mineralogy, paleontology, stratigraphy etc.

Talking of how geosciences, used in the context of development has brought about positive and sustainable change, the earth is the foundation upon which development depends. Development is either driven by resources from the earth or by land as a resource like in the case of agriculture. Success of a development process and sustainability of the same requires meticulous intervention of a geoscientist to define the balance between society’s demand for these resources, their sustainable use and need to sustain healthy ecosystems.

Success stories of how geosciences have played a fundamental role in development dates back to many years ago. In the early 1930s, a small village in western Kenya was the scene of a gold rush fueled partly by the reports of the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson. In its place now, we have a beautiful town called Kakamega which is the economic hub of the region. Elsewhere, gold has transformed South Africa and its commercial hub Egoli – the city of gold to a heaven for gold diggers and investors to its undisputed status as the continental economic heavy weight – thanks to geoscientists.

Water has brought happiness to these women (Hudson Wereh Shiraku)

If there is no water due to drought, children will miss school because they must help their mothers to fetch water. One can only imagine what implication this has to development but thanks to hydrologists, children from a village in Maralal in Northern Kenya won’t miss school again for this reason. Under the auspices of an international non-government organization (NGO), this class of geoscientists has worked tirelessly to indentify underground water sources and avail water to local communities.

Courtesy of geoscientists, Kenya is tapping into geothermal energy and generating electricity. With the potential of 2000 MW, there is a total of 127 MW installed capacity and the plant meets 11% of the total national electricity supply (MoE, 2008). As a result, geothermal use in Kenya has led to significant socio-economic benefits for the country; a workforce of 493 persons is deployed at the Olkaria power stations considerably contributing to poverty reduction. In Naivasha, a geothermal heat resource is being used in a horticultural farm to control night-time humidity levels in order to reduce the incidence of fungal diseases – a successful instance where Geoscience has drawn from other fields to create a positive change.

Away from home, geothermal power has also been successfully exploited in northern African countries, using geothermal fluid for irrigation of oases as well as heating and irrigation of greenhouses. 

In Israel, the fact that agricultural production continues to grow despite severe water and land limitations is no accident. It is due to a close and ongoing cooperation between researchers, extension workers, farmers and agriculture-related services and industries. Geoscience has been tapped into by agriculture to ensure availability of water and suitable soils for farming.  

Finally, in Kenya we have what has been humorously referred to as “Oil Mania”. Kenyans have run a mock with oil exploration all over the country since oil was recently discovered in the north western town of Turkana. Though we have to wait for some studies to determine its economic feasibility, prospects are high and surely geoscience is an important ingredient of development.

In view of all these success stories, what would my neighbor who threatened to disown his son for wanting to pursue a course in geology against his wish for an educational course do? I suppose he would cover his face in shame.

GfGD Blog Competition (Overall Winner) - Water of Life Project: Safe Drinking Water in Burkina Faso

As mentioned in Monday's post, Christopher Barry is the overall winner of the GfGD Blog Competition 2012. 

Christopher considers Canterbury to be home although his family has lived overseas throughout his life. He is currently approaching the end of his third year of studies in Earth Sciences at Cambridge and takes particular interest in geophysics and the deep Earth.

Although not decided on long-term plans, he intends to continue his studies next year to complete a MSci, which will include a project modelling chemical processes at the core-mantle boundary. When not studying, Christopher enjoys playing music, running, bird-watching and is a member of the Christian Union and the Zero Carbon Society at his university.

Christopher was privileged to be able to visit Burkina Faso recently, a very rural country where a great number of people are dependent on drilled wells with hand pumps for clean water. In Ouagadougou he met Mark Collier, where they talked at length about hydrogeology in the country. Here Christopher presents the brilliant work of Mark and his colleagues:

Burkina Faso, located in sub-Saharan West Africa has a population of 16 million, of which 80% live in rural communities.  28% of its rural population live further than a kilometre from a source of clean water [1]. These people are often forced to use near-surface water which can be a long walk away and contaminated by human and animal excrement. The annual rainfall is plenty to provide for the population’s usage, but for much of the country safe drinking water can only be found in bedrock requiring drilling equipment.

Fig. 1: A wet well.  

Mark Collier is third from right.

(Source: FIA Website)

Mark Collier, who has worked for Friends in Action (FIA) in Burkina Faso since 2005, takes several volunteer teams each year along with a drilling rig to these isolated villages. They work in the dry season to ensure a year-round water supply. In the far west, deep groundwater can be found reliably in the sandstone with little exploration work.  However, for most of the country, groundwater is in fault zones in granite. During the wet months, Mark uses resistivity surveys to locate water-bearing faults, which show up as a negative anomalies in resistivity [2]. Connected fault systems are important because isolated faults are often not sustainable water sources.

The teams use a mobile rig (Figs. 1,3) to drill down as much as 100m if necessary. Using casings and local materials, they protect the upper parts of the well from contamination whilst allowing deep ground water in (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: General cross section of a well drilled into granite in Burkina Faso

Technical expertise in the construction is vital, but FIA also recognises the importance of the relational side of development work. There are several steps that Mark and his team take to address these issues.

Before drilling a well, they carefully consider its location, collaborating with the locals. The drilling site is marked out for some time before work begins. This ensures, for example, that the proposed well is not in sacred ground where it would be unused and possibly offensive. Careful planning is necessary to make sure the well is as easily accessible as previous, unclean water sources.

It is essential for the locals to understand that the well is their property and responsibility after the construction. They are encouraged to help with the manual labour, including the making of the well cover (Fig. 2), a visible sign of their contribution. Mark encourages the locals to take ownership through the formation of a well management committee in the village to ensure good maintenance and sustainability.

During the work, the team camps in the village and share the locals’ food. A Burkinabé – from Burkina Faso – pastor accompanies the team who helps with communication, as mostly tribal languages are spoken in rural areas, and explains the compassionate motives for drilling the well. Through building personal relationship, the locals trust that the well is a good and necessary gift. The volunteers receive gifts from many villages, often local produce such as chickens.

FIA started drilling wells in Burkina Faso in 2005, and have drilled almost 200 holes. Their success rate has increased with better surveying. This last year they had twenty-five wet wells from thirty holes (83%) compared to the national average of 60%. Since 2005, only one of their wells has stopped functioning. In the village of Zitonosso, an existing well (not drilled by FIA) had silted up.  FIA offered to replace it if the village could cover the cost of the hand-pump, about $1500. Overnight, the village provided the funds, and the well was replaced in March (Fig. 3); a testimony to the sense of value and ownership of these wells among the Burkinabé people.

Fig. 3: Drilling in Zitonosso (photo courtesy of Mark Collier)

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[1] http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/burkina-faso/

[2] Resistivity Methods, United States Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/epahome/index2.html


Christopher Barry was the overall winner of the GfGD Blog Competition 2012, winning a 1:50,000,000 Geological Map of the World with explanatory notes, and a 1:40,000,000 Map of Global Groundwater Resources .

GfGD Blog Competition Winners

A couple of months ago we held our first GfGD Blog Competition, and I am delighted to announce the overall winner was Christopher Barry, a natural sciences student at the University of Cambridge, UK. Christopher wrote an interesting and informative piece about the work of a small charity called 'Friends in Action'. The piece not only described the geoscience in an accessible and helpful manner, but also highlighted the importance of community engagement skills for making their work in Burkina Faso a success. Runners up were Hudson Shiraku, an environmental scientist from Nairobi, Kenya, and Daniel Sharpe, a geology student at the University of Leeds, UK. You can read all three of their articles over the coming days and weeks on the GfGD Blog, starting with Christopher's blog this Wednesday.

The winner and runners up have, or soon will, all receive a Map of Global Groundwater Resources, and the overall winner, Christopher Barry, also received a copy of the impressive 1:50,000,000 scale, Geological Map of the World with explanatory notes.

We will be running other competitions in the future - so do check out the blog and our website (www.gfgd.org) for the latest information. 

GfGD Blog Competition 2012

Don't forget our GfGD Blog Competition - asking you to write a short piece on one of the following questions:

1) Success Stories – How has geoscience been used within development to bring about positive and sustainable change?

(2) Missing Skills – The importance of ‘soft-skills’ for geoscientists in the development sector.

(3) Communicating Geoscience – How can we improve the communication of geoscience to policymakers?

 

If you've already submitted a piece, we're advising people to resend it, as our e-mail system has been having some problems. Send your completed entries to blog@gfgd.org. We're lining up some fun geological-themed prizes, and all shortlisted entries will be included in a special GfGD publication available on our website.

GfGD Blog Competition 2012

Tomorrow is our first birthday on the ‘Geology for Global Development’ blog – the forerunner to the GfGD organisation. Over the past 12 months we have published around 150 posts on topics ranging from water and sanitation, mining, geohazards and disaster risk reduction, the importance of soft skills and much more. We have had a range of guest blogs from students, academics and professionals, and recently have welcomed Dan Sharpe onto the writing team as a regular GfGD columnist. There have been a staggering 25,000+ pageviews over the past 12 months, from nations around the world – and we currently have over 4000 hits a month.

To celebrate one year of the GfGD blog, we’d like to invite you to join our ‘GfGD Blog Competition 2012’ with the chance to win a range of geological-themed prizes (to be announced soon). We are asking people to submit a blog post of no more than 600 words, and a maximum of 3 graphics, on one of the following broad topics:

(1) Success Stories – How has geoscience been used within development to bring about positive and sustainable change?

(2) Missing Skills – The importance of ‘soft-skills’ for geoscientists in the development sector.

(3) Communicating Geoscience – How can we improve the communication of geoscience to policymakers?

The article will require some research and background reading. It can be written in the style of your choice, be creative but make sure it is readable, accurate and informative. It can be entertaining or serious, challenging or provocative – the judges welcome a range of different writing styles. Applications should be sent by midday on 30th April 2012 to blog@gfgd.org, with the author’s name, e-mail address, contact number and university (or date of graduation).

After the submission deadline, a shortlist of the best articles will be compiled. All shortlisted articles will be published on our blog, and also in a special GfGD publication to be made available for download on our website. The overall winner and other special prize winners will be decided by our panel of guest judges, and winners will be contacted in June 2012.

Prizes, to be announced in the near future, will be awarded to the following categories:

(i) Overall Winner

(ii) Runners Up (x2)

(iii) Best original graphic (illustration, photo, other graphic).

You can read more, and download a PDF with the full details and rules from our website, and we strongly recommend all candidates do this. Please note this competition is open to current students or those who graduated not more than three years ago.