Risk Perception

From nuclear power to gene therapy to the automobile, history shows that it is useful to encourage and facilitate public discussion about new technologies and their potential dangers.

This book employs qualitative and quantitative methods to assess and scrutinize the impacts of climatic, topographic, land use, hydrologic and geologic factors on the hydrogeological disasters particularly flood and landslide in Rwanda. The hydrogeological hazard susceptibility and its spatial distribution is also mapped by integrating geospatial techniques and mathematical modeling approach through remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS). On the other hand, questionnaires and interview are used to evaluate the community's perception on the risk of hazards. The results unveiled different zones most susceptible to the incidence of both hazards as well as their main contributing factors. Furthermore, the results revealed that the government is perceived as responsible for all mitigation measures instead of being a shared responsibility, a perception that may also contribute to the increase in susceptibility.