- Flooding is not unique to Kenya only, and no, it’s not the end of the world or a plague or a lesson.
- Neither is it prayers from the topmost office in Kenya gone wrong, according to others who want to politicise the rain.
Image: FILE
We wished for a lot of rain, and now it’s here, and again we are wishing it away. This past month has seen events of unprecedented levels. There has been flooding all over the country, homes and even trees, among many other things, have been swept away.
Lives have been lost and people in the country continue losing their lives. What is currently happening needs more than rescue efforts, because we've been caught flat-footed and we need something to change. Yet, experts also say, Kenya might be more prone to flooding in future as a result of climate change.
This situation reminds us that development can have a negative or positive effect on how we handle unexpected heavy rains. Early warning systems experts have done their bit. Their purpose to provide information on situations that can lead to flooding is good enough, now it is up to our policymakers and leaders to push for the kind of development that lets us handle all this rain that has hit us hard.
Many years ago, I watched a short video on how Japan has prepared to control catastrophic flooding in its capital, Tokyo. Japan's underground "Parthenon", the largest facility of its kind in the world, is described according the YouTube video as a cavernous complex in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, close to Tokyo, for protecting Tokyo and surrounding areas from catastrophic flooding. It was built in 2006 for 230 billion yen which is roughly $2.2 billion.
They say that the immense structure funnels away and redirects excess water from storm and typhoons to the Kasukabe flood tank. The underground facility is said to be deep enough to hold the Statue of Liberty and has the length of roughly two football fields. This reservoir is linked to a 6.3km tunnel that is linked again to release excess water to a nearby river.
An hour of rain alone can cause floods in parts of Kenya, this is because we have not prepared well for heavy rains. When the rains go away, and a period of drought comes, we then wish the rain to come back for water for domestic and commercial use.
Yet also, when the rains are this heavy, others are still facing water rationing. Imagine seeing floods outside your gate, yet your taps are dry. This is something for our good leaders to ponder as we plan holistically for the future of our country, with wonderful lessons to borrow from engineering marvels such as the Kasukabe flood tank.
What if all the counties, especially those in flood-prone areas, invested in coming up with such underground reservoirs? What if they engaged development partners who have such experienced technical knowhow to combat this kind of flooding in future? Could it be possible to have quick solutions at this moment?
I'm sure so many Kenyan citizens are having this in mind. We have a lot of land in Kenya that can be acquired by the government in the right way in all counties to come up with reservoirs of appropriate scale. Constructing an underground tank can save us millions of Kenya shillings in disaster cleanup work, plus reconstruction from all the damage caused.
Flooding is not unique to Kenya only, and no, it’s not the end of the world or a plague or a lesson. Neither is it prayers from the topmost office in Kenya gone wrong, according to others who want to politicise the rain or some mysterious phenomenon after the white butterflies. The heavy rainfall is just a natural calamity that caught us.
Communications researcher and scholar, currently pursuing Peace and Development Work Studies in Sweden ([email protected])