LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS EGYPT PART 1: FLOODS

1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERSEGYPTPART 1: FLOODS Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA 

2. EGYPT

3. POLITICAL MAP OF EGYPT (Note: Aswan)

4. Egypt has frequent earthquakes, floods, flash floods and landslides, dust storms, sandstorms, periodic droughts, and hot, driving windstorms called khamsin, which occur in the spring.

5. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN EGYPT FLOODS GOAL: PROTECT PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES STORMS EARTHQUAKES HIGH BENEFIT/COST FROM BECOMING DISASTER NRESILIENT DUST STORMS ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

6. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric-hydrospheric-lithospheric interactions create situations favorable for FLOODS

7. THE NILE RIVER

8. THE NILE’S FERTILE DELTA

9. FLOOD-PRONE COMMUNITIES ALONG THE NILE

10. THE NILE RIVER • The ancient Egyptians thought of the annual floods as the annual coming of the god Hapi. • They did not realize that the annual flood cycle happened after rainfall in the mountains to the south swelled the tributaries and small rivers that form the northward-flowing Nile River.

11. FLOODING IS A PART OF THE EGYPTIAN CULTURE • The annual flooding of the Nile River (Arabic: عيد وفاء النيل‎), a natural cycle, has been a part of Egyptian culture since ancient times. • It is celebrated annually as a holiday (known as Wafaa El-Nil) for two weeks starting August 15.

12. THE ANNUAL RYTHMN OF LIFE ALONG THE NILE

13. THE ANNUAL FLOOD CYCLE • The first indications of the rise of the Nile River and the beginning of the flood cycle are typically seen as early as the beginning of June. • A steady increase in water level occurs until the middle of July. • The Nile continues to rise until the beginning of September, when the level remains stationary for a period of about three weeks, sometimes a little less. In October it rises again, and reaches its highest level. From this period it begins to subside, and though it rises yet once more and reaches occasionally its former highest point, it sinks steadily until the month of June when it is again at its lowest level

14. THE ANNUAL FLOOD CYCLE (Continued) • The water level in the Nile continues to rise until the beginning of September, then the level remains stationary for a period of about three weeks. • In October the water rises again and reaches its highest level.

15. THE ANNUAL FLOOD CYCLE (Continued) • From October to June, the water level in the Nile continues to subside until it once again reaches its lowest level in June.

16. ELEMENTS OF RISK AND DISASTER

17. HAZARDS EXPOSURE VULNERABILITY LOCATION ELEMENTS OF EARTHQUAKE RISK RISK

18. FLOOD HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) • TOO MUCH WATER DISCHARGED WITHIN THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM TO BE ACCOMMODATED NORMALLY IN THE REGIONAL WATER CYCLE • EROSION • SCOUR • MUDFLOWS

19. A DISASTER CAN HAPPENWHEN THE POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS OF A FLOOD INTERACT WITH EGYPT’S COMMUNITIES

20. CAUSES OF RISK LOSS OF FUNCTION OF STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN INUNDATION INTERACTION WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS STRUCTURAL/CONTENTS DAMAGE FROM WATER FLOODS WATER BORNE DISEASES (HEALTH PROBLEMS) CASE HISTORIES EROSION AND MUDFLOWS CONTAMINATION OF GROUND WATER

21. The annual flood cycle of the Nile River has made the difference between living and dying for thousands of years in Egypt.

22. THE NILE AS A SOURCE OF LIFE • The annual floods of the Nile River brought nutrient-rich silt from the mountains to the Nile delta, which produced bountiful crops.

23. ABOUT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WATER

24. THE NILE AS A SOURCE OF DEATH • When the water levels in the Nile River are too high, flooding prevents deposition of the nutrient-rich silt in the Nile delta, reducing agricultural output. • When water levels are too low for flooding, the result is low agricultural output and possible starvation.

25. TOO MUCH WATER

26. A DISASTER is --- --- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community torespond without external help  when three continuums: 1)  people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, earthquakes,…) intersect at a point in space and time.

27. Disasters are caused by single- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

28. THE REASONS ARE . . . • When it does happen, the functions of the community’s buildings and infrastructure will be LOST.

29. THE REASONS ARE . . . • The community is UN-PREPARED for what will likely happen, not to mention the low-probability of occurrence—high-probability of adverse consequences event.

30. THE REASONS ARE . . . • The community has NODISASTER PLANNING SCENARIO or WARNING SYSTEM in place as a strategic framework for early threat identification and coordinated local, national, regional, and international countermeasures.

31. THE REASONS ARE . . . • The community LACKS THE CAPACITY TO RESPOND in a timely and effective manner to the full spectrum of expected and unexpected emergency situations.

32. THE REASONS ARE . . . • The community is INEFFICIENT during recovery and reconstruction because it HAS NOT LEARNED from either the current experience or the cumulative prior experiences.

33. FLOODS IN EGYPT ARE INEVITABLE AND DAMAGING • ---SO, DON’T WAIT FOR ANOTHER REMINDER OF THE IMPORTANCE OF BECOMING FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENT.

34. THE ALTERNATIVE TO A FLOOD DISASTER ISFLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE

35. FLOOD HAZARDS • INVENTORY • VULNERABILITY • LOCATION • PREPAREDNESS • PROTECTION • FORECASTS/SCENARIOS • EMERGENCY RESPONSE • RECOVERY and • RECONSTRUCTION FL\OOD RISK POLICY OPTIONS ACCEPTABLE RISK RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE DATA BASES AND INFORMATION EGYPT’S COMMUNITIES HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

36. STRATEGIC COLLABORATION (I.E., WORKING TOGETHER ON A COMMON GOAL) FOR BECOMING FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENT

38. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS PREPAREDNESS FOR ALL OF THE LIKELY HAZARDS AND RISKS IS ESSENTIAL FOR COMMUNITY DISASTER RESILIENCE

40. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS TECHNOLOGIES THAT FACILITATE STRATEGIC COLLABORATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

41. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

42. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL FLOODS PROTECTION OF A COMMUNITY’S PEOPLE, BUILDINGS, & INFRASTRUCTURE AGAINST LOSS OF FUNCTION IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

43. THE ASWAN HIGH DAM After ten years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed on July 21, 1970.

44. The Aswan High Dam, located on the Nile River just north of the border between Egypt and Sudan, was built to control the frequent cycles of flooding and drought within Egypt.

45. THE ASWAN (HIGH) DAM

46. THE ASWAN (HIGH) DAM

47. THE ASWAN HIGH DAM • At 364 feet (111 meters) high and about 2.4 miles (3.8 kilometers) wide, the Aswan High Dam was a marvel of construction in 1970, costing about $1 billion to build.

48. ELECTRICITY • In addition to preventing flooding of the Nile River, the Aswan High Dam brought electricity to households and villages across Egypt that had never had it. • This dam's 12 turbines are capable of generating ten billion kilowatt-hours annually

49. FRESH WATER • The reservoir (Lake Nasser) with a gross capacity of 136,927,000 acre-feet (168.9 billion cubic meters). behind the Aswan High Dam provides a source of fresh water for the Egyptian people during drought years.

50. Unfortunately, before the dam could be built, 90,000 of Egypt’s poor and Sudan’s Nubian nomads had to be relocated