École polytechnique de Louvain (EPL)

Challenges

Haiti is a country that is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and has suffered numerous political difficulties in recent years, making it difficult to manage flooding effectively. This problem is exacerbated by the transport of sediments, often from upstream watersheds where intensive deforestation makes the soil highly susceptible to erosion.

A methodology is being developed to characterise the risk to vulnerable towns and sites based on photogrammetric topography measurements taken by a drone and data collected in the field. The longer-term objective is to be able to produce flood hazard maps and assess the vulnerability of infrastructure to help decision-makers prepare risk reduction plans.

UCLouvain’s contribution

Rotchild Louis is a lecturer and researcher at the State University of Haiti (UEH) who wrote a doctoral thesis as part of the RISCRUE project. This research project provided him with an opportunity to learn more about measurement and modelling techniques that are not yet sufficiently established in Haiti. As part of the project, he has mentored numerous Haitian trainees (UEH students), who are being trained to contribute to the development of good practices in Haiti, combined with appropriate communication about the risks to the population.