Flood Disaster Risk Assessment Based on Fuzzy Information Optimization Method in Limbe Town, Cameroon

Abstract

Cameroon like many other countries is a victim of the negative externalities of flood disaster. The alarming record register by the report of the international Emergency disaster database discloses the undesirable consequences of natural disaster on the economy of the country. Flood risk has escalated in Limbe Town as a result of the rising, industrial development, and urbanization. Although there has been a substantial rise in flood risk assessment studies in Limbe, there still exist problem as to what concern flood risk assessment in the city of Limbe. Due to these issues, we gathered and analyzed flood damage data from the Limbe urban council disaster database from 1990 to 2018 to determine the flood risk in different Limbe neighborhoods. To evaluate disaster data, the study proposes a new method called fuzzy information optimization. Our results demonstrate that Down Beach, Church Street, and Mile two localities located at the south of Limbe are the most vulnerable areas, with the highest risk of flood, followed by New town, Clerk’s quarter, Njengelle Quarters, and Gardenswhile limbe camp, Bota, and mile one have the lowest flood risk. The fuzzy information optimization approach makes risk information available to decision-makers and planners, allowing them to identify areas as high-risk flood, moderate-risk flood, or low-risk flood, and implement flood risk management at the national and local levels. The first tool used to assess flood disaster risk in Limbe was fuzzy information optimization, which can also be used to assess flood disaster risk in other countries and regions.