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Dataset on the expansion and consolidation of flooded settlements in the Dosso Region, Niger

Maurizio Tiepolo, Andrea Galligari, DIST-Politecnico and University of Turin, Italy
Published in: Data in Brief
Date: February 10, 2022

Abstract

Flood risk reduction at the local scale requires knowledge of the settlements which are most exposed to floods, and those where the existing measures are insufficient to handle the threats. The knowledge on spatial dynamics of the flooded human settlements is limited, especially that of the smaller ones, such as the settlements in the sub-Saharan Africa. The dataset on 122 flooded settlements in the Dosso Region (Niger) offers information on: the built-up area and the number of buildings with corrugated iron roofs in 2004, 2012, and 2019 (average dates), the type of human settlements (city, rural town, village, or hamlet), the flood dates and the number of buildings collapsed between 2011 and 2019. The data on the built-up area and the number of buildings with corrugated iron roofs were extracted by visual photointerpretation from very high-resolution images accessible through Google Earth Pro. The information on the settlement category was obtained from the Human Settlements National Directory (French acronym, ReNaLoc) published by the National Institute of Statistics of Niger. The dates of floods and the data on the number of collapsed buildings were obtained from the open-access national database on flooding, known by the French acronym, BDINA. These data can be reused to build a geodatabase for flood risk reduction and to draft the municipal and regional development plans. Their potential reuse allows for the identification of settlements undergoing the most rapid physical expansion, built-up area in a flood-prone zone, and settlements that require protection and flood risk reduction policies. Additionally, the dataset can also be used to verify the accuracy of the built-up area obtained from the satellite images with coarse resolution and for comparisons with other regions in Niger and in sub-Saharan Africa.