Floods, collapsing buildings, and fires are prevalent hazards in Nairobi. While most parts of the city experiences such disasters in different magnitude, Nairobi’s informal settlements (slums) are major frontiers of these hazards, both natural and human risks owing to a number of compounding reasons. For instance, fires are common phenomenon in slums often emerging from various sources including electrical faults (resulting from poor/illegal electrical infrastructure), poor cooking spaces among others. The main goal for the Nairobi Hub is to provide Nairobi with the capacity and policy framework that enables a shift from crisis/emergency response towards integrated urban development and planning for enhanced disaster risk preparedness and management, through policy relevant and transdisciplinary research. The need for such a transition is recognized at the Nairobi city county government level, reflected among others in the Nairobi Disaster Management Act 2019, which is currently under review.
Responsibilities
Research
Collect secondary flood data and impact for modelling and mapping across the city from organizations such as the Kenya Red Cross, Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), SDI/CURI/KDI, and Newspaper articles, and any other sources.
Carry out field visits for data collection, verification of facts and ground truthing.
Map historic flood events in Mukuru and other Nairobi catchments as appropriate GIS/Google Earth/Satellite Imagery and other appropriate datasets as necessary, in support of the point above.
Compute Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Nairobi City County in general but with high resolution for Mukuru informal settlement.
Delineate watershed, soil types, natural and constructed drainage infrastructure (roads, railroads, land use etc) from current and other available planning maps of the city and more specifically within the Mukuru basin.
Analyze statistics provided from Nairobi City County contacts and other sources to provide initial analysis of frequentist flood data, and working with other Hub researchers, support the analysis of gender/intersectionality risk issues at the settlement (Mukuru) and city level.
Compute Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Nairobi City County in general but with high resolution for Mukuru informal settlement.
Delineate watershed, soil types, natural and constructed drainage infrastructure (roads, railroads, land use etc) from current and other available planning maps of the city and more specifically within the Mukuru basin.
Using ArcGIS tools, develop a hydrological model based on surface flow models; using digital elevation model (DEM) based on frequency and magnitudes of the flooding for a 20-year (1990-2010) period.
Carry out calibration, validation and sensitivity analysis of the model.
Using catchment areas to produce flood outlines, depth and velocity distributions for current and future rainfall scenarios.
Select flash floods, identify and delineate flooding hotspots, and any cascading hazards.
Forecast any potential damages/ impacts during major rainy periods and select elements of an Early Warning Systems.
Link flood maps with socio-economic and demographic profiles (WP 1) and vulnerability profiles (WP 2) to assess risk and map risk profiles.
Present data and meta-data for internal and external dissemination, working closely with other physical hazards modelers within the Hub to ensure data compatibility, for both inventory purposes, and for multi-hazard risk and resilience identification/assessment purposes.
Policy and outreach
Work with other researchers within the Hub specifically looking at community engagement and planning to facilitate their discussions through developing flood risk maps in easily understandable forms, potentially participating in pertinent discussions.
Support the production of policy briefs for, and with, local, national and international stakeholders (i.e. NCC, UN-Habitat) on the mapping of flood risks in informal urban settlements.
Support the establishment of DRR Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP will include a wide array of stakeholders drawn from local, county, national and international levels to support a more integrated review and inputs into the research outputs and outcomes.
Support the development and delivery of a multi-hazard DRR Management Plan for the City
Support and contribute to the Capacity building plans designed towards the desired culture change through contributing to Capacity needs assessments, skill development through targeted programmes including capacity building programmes, customized trainings, Exchange visits (annually), Executive courses (Yr 2) to deliver an open process for career development
Prepare integrated policy interventions and plans.
Job Requirements
Required education
: Post-graduate education
Required relevant work experience
: 2 years
Required languages:
English (Spoken: fluent | Written: fluent)
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