Role of Geomatics in the Management of Disasters and Infrastructural Failures

Abstract

The article identifies the role of Geomatics in the highly interdisciplinary disaster management to include identification and mapping of hazard prone areas, deformation monitoring of hazard prone areas and massive engineering structures, production of rescue maps and assessment of damages among others. A case study of surveying activities in the proposed flood management of Asa River in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria was presented. The study identified possible causes of the flood to include silting along the river, blockades of free flow of water resulting from human activities such as dumping of refuse in the river and natural causes such as growth of vegetation along the river channel. The study recommends the development and deployment of Geomatics potentials in the three phases of disaster management namely; pre-disaster phase, disaster phase and post disaster phase.

Keywords: Geomatics, Disaster, Mapping, Assessment, Management