Sierra Leone Rapid Damage and Loss Assessment of August 14th, 2017 Landslides and Floods in the Western Area
Sierra Leone is situated on the West Coast of Africa and is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally, with a per capita gross domestic product of USD 684 in 2015. It is ranked 179 out of 188 countries on the United Nations 20...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/223131508818144309/Sierra-Leone-Rapid-damage-and-loss-assessment-of-August-14th-2017-landslides-and-floods-in-the-western-area http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28836 |
| Summary: | Sierra Leone is situated on the West
Coast of Africa and is one of the poorest countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa and globally, with a per capita gross
domestic product of USD 684 in 2015. It is ranked 179 out of
188 countries on the United Nations 2016 Human Development
Index, and chronic malnutrition is still on the rise with 44
percent of children below 5 being stunted in 2010, up from
40 percent in 2005. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP)
stagnated after independence in 1961, contracted by 3.4
percent on average during the civil war (1991-2001) and
increased by an average of 5.9 percent from 2002 to 2014.
The country was severely affected by twin shocks in 2014,
the Ebola Virus Outbreak and the downturn of international
prices of iron ore, the combination of which caused the
economy to contract by more than 20 percent, plunging the
country into economic and social turmoil. It has yet to
recover. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in
Sierra Leone, particularly for the poor, contributing almost
50 percent of increases in GDP between 2001 to 2014. The
flooding hazard in and around Freetown is found along and
adjacent to the many watercourses that run through the city,
draining the hilly areas. These watercourses change as they
run downslope. Nearer the top, narrower valleys tend, after
rain, to produce very turbulent fast-flowing water flows. As
the rivers descend to the lower elevations of the coastal
plain, the river channels widen and flows slow. At the
mouths of the rivers, the channels open out into a
low-lying, delta shaped alluvial floodplain and mudflats. |
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