The Kivu Citizen Observers (DRC)

Since 2019, the citizen observer (CO) network located in the Kivu region (eastern DRC) is surveying natural hazards and associated disasters, in the framework of the HARISSA project (2019-2029). Using smartphones, they collect information on earthquake, flood, hailstorm, landslide, lightning, and windstorm. The collected data (description, pictures, location of hazards and potential damages) are then transmitted to an online platform and analysed by CO supervisors who produce regular reports presenting the natural hazards and associated disasters situation in their regions. Beyond observing, CO are key actors in their local communities; they are in direct contact with the environment and play a role in awareness raising at the interface between communities and scientists.

The network consists of 18 representatives of the North and South Kivu Civil Protection, supervised by Hugues Katembo and Jean Marie Bwishe, officials of the Civil Protection (respectively North and South Kivu), and coordinated by Théo Mana and David Bujiriri from the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwiro. The team is presented below. The data on natural hazards and associated disasters collected by this group are accessible in the Web-GIS available at this link.