Accidents Related to the 2014 Rains and Their Socio-Economic Consequences in the City of Abidjan: The Case of the Municipalities of Abobo and Attécoubé (Côte D’Ivoire) To cite this

The urban environment is confronted with recurring calamities including floods, landslides and forced escapes of populations during periods of rain. In Côte d’Ivoire, the municipalities of Abobo and Attécoubé suffered enormous material and human damage following the torrential rains of 2014. These urbanized areas are built on large plateaus bordered by thalwegs where 61% of these areas have no drainage network, thus facing a lack of sanitation. More-over, topographical, rainfall, anthropogenic and technical conditions are factors explaining the occurrence of natural disasters and their consequences in the said communes. The objective of this article is to assess the socio-economic impact of the occurrence of hazards. It focuses on the identification of risk sectors in the municipalities of Abobo and Attécoubé and the material, human and economic consequences that result from rain accidents.


Introduction
These last decades are increasingly disturbed by both natural and anthropogenic phenomena that continue to disrupt the environment. Floods, mass movements, coastal erosion, cyclones and hurricanes, earthquakes, technological accidents, tsunamis are disasters that cause more and more damage in the world. Faced (2004), Abé (2005), Ramade (2006), and Alla (2013) addressed the issue of natural hazards and consequences. Others, such as Assako (1996), note that floods and mass movements in Cameroon are a real concern for cities located in areas with high rainfall rates because at the base of many damages such as in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire.
In 2014, the municipalities of Abobo and Attécoubé, which lie on a dissected plateau, a very rugged sheep, were prey to hydrometeorological incidents. They are located in the northern part of the city of Abidjan (Figure 1). Indeed, urbanization in these two municipalities extends beyond the constructible and developed areas to non constructible areas to the detriment of the rules of urbanism and construction. As a result, pockets of precarious and spontaneous housing appear due to demographic pressure and impoverishment. But in environments where rainfall is abundant; more than 1800 mm of rain per year and where topographic, anthropogenic and technical conditions no longer follow the rhythm and the specifications of the existing urbanisation (Alla, 2013); (Brou, 2008); (Brou, 2015) and (Tamboura, 2008); the increasing vulnerability of the population and the degradation of the immediate living environment are legion; floods and mass movements are the result of frequent landslides and landslides. These municipalities suffered the disastrous consequences of heavy rains during May-July 2014. Despite the actions taken by the authorities to reduce the harmful consequences of the heavy rains, the situation remains unchanged.
The objective of this article is to assess the socio-economic impact of the occurrence of hazards. It focuses on the identification of risk sectors in the municipalities of Abobo and Attécoubé and the material, human and economic consequences that result from rain accidents.

Method
The methodological approach is a hypothetico-deductive approach based on the literature search, the field observation carried out from 2014 to 2015 and interviews with resource persons (local populations and municipal authorities).
Concerning the documentary research, the information collected relates to existing natural phenomena and their consequences.
With the population surveys, we were able to identify the most vulnerable areas and exposed to natural hazards. All the neighborhoods of the two com-

Abobo, a Rugged Site
Located in the north of the city of Abidjan, the municipality of Abobo extends over a plateau site broken down on sides by basins called natural depressions.
These are natural rainwater collection areas, which are therefore difficult to urbanize. There are about 30 of them in the current urban area. The sizes of these depressions vary between 100 and 130 meters for a depth of up to five meters as shown in Figure 2.
This municipality of Abobo has 18 storm basins and 10 ravines as shown in

Attécoubé, a Site with Pronounced Topographical Constraints
The site of Attécoubé is a plateau relief cut in half by the bay of Banco (river). This relief has different characteristics from one cardinal point to another. To the east, it is separated from the interfluve of Adjamé-centre by a valley whose encashment is 35 meters; this gives it the appearance of a large mound elongated in the north-south direction. This relief is itself composed of two interfluves divided by a very deep valley of the order 50 -60 meters. It starts from the original site of Attécoubé by passing by the Marian Shrine, the Fairmont city to the bay of the banco by a steep. To the west of the bay of the banco, we note the presence of valleys with steep slopes with relatively wide bottoms. The ramifications of the eastern ledges of the banco plateau have reduced the altitudes of the summits from 40 -50 to 50 -60 meters.
To the south a flat surface of 30 -40 meters more or less favorable to urbanization. Table 2 and Figure 3 provide an overview of the risk areas and terrain of Attécoubé.
From the above, we consider that Abobo and Attécoubé are two municipalities established on potentially dangerous sites where risks of landslides and floods in case of rain are proven. Even worse, in these urbanized areas, we have noticed a rough servicing of land intended for the construction of habitats, a regular lack of sanitation and irregular urban development (Adomon and al, 2018). Such failures expose any urbanized area and said environment to serious consequences in the event of natural disasters.

The Consequences of Rain Accidents in the Most Affected Neighbourhoods of the Two Municipalities
The heavy amount of rain during the month of June (89 mm/daily rain and 946.1/monthly rain) caused multiple accidents in the Abidjan District. These are

Consequences of Floods in the Neighbourhoods of the Municipality of Abobo in 2014
They concern the loss of life, injuries, material damage, destruction of homes and economic activities as shown in Tables 3-6.
From the analysis of Tables 3-6, it appears that the floods had harmful and catastrophic effects on the environment and the living environment of the populations in the municipality of Abobo. Worse still, losses of human lives and property damage were reported in the said municipality following the landslides. Table 7 and Table 8 give an overview of these losses in human lives and property damage.

The Consequences of Landslides and Landslides in the
Municipality of Attécoubé The municipality of Attécoubé is a high risk area due to the dangerous landslides that occurred there. With the support of local authorities, we have identified the consequences of this natural disaster as shown in Tables 9-11.
As for landslides, their effects are more noticeable at Attécoubé with the corollary of significant material damage as shown in Tables 12-14. In total, it should be remembered that the rains of 2014 caused more deaths in the commune of Attécoubé than Abobo. We counted 07 in Abobo and 16 in Attécoubé. These torrential rains made more than 2000 displaced. On economic activities, the rain caused the destruction of products from the various stores located at the edge of the sewerage and drainage networks. The destruction of goods and materials from the shops during and after the floods. Finally, it resulted in the destruction of economic infrastructure in both municipalities.            Faced with such a reality of natural disasters, relief actions and financial support have been carried out.
Who are the perpetrators and beneficiaries? How much assistance can we assess for victims?

Relief, Aid and Support Measures for Victims and Survivors of Natural Disasters in Abobo and Attécoubé
These include aid and donations to disaster victims during and after floods, landslides and mudslide. This assistance is provided by the people, charities, municipal and government authorities.

About the Population in the Two Municipalities Studied
People in disaster areas did not sit idly by during and after the accidents. They expressed a desire to help each other. Also, the victims received from their hands from other populations; food and material of primary necessity. These include mattresses, bed sheets, loincloths, rice, mats, shoes, etc. There was no deduction in cost, because it was voluntary acts between neighbourhood brothers.
In Abobo, for example, two NGOs, Lion's Club and the Red Cross, have relieved more than 500 households by bringing them food and non-food items.
These donations are estimated at tens of millions. However, they could not be valued in cash.

Actions of Government Authorities
In Attécoubé, In addition, the State has also committed to pre-finance the new rents of the victims to the tune of 03 months of guarantee and 02 months of rent paid in advance due to 370,841 USD per month.
In order to avoid similar disasters in the rainy season, a programme to assist people to evacuate dangerous sites was drawn up by an interdepartmental committee. However, the evacuation of exposed populations is difficult to implement due to lack of financial means. The different aspects of this program are:  Demolition of houses, threatened houses and relocation of residents at an estimated cost of 56,264.10 USD; Monastery, Red plate, Netherlands, cayman lake, Nanti, Banco, Anonkoua village). Table 15 is an inventory of donations made.

Actions of Local Authorities
In Attécoubé  Disaster assistance: 278.09 USD to 606 people, for a total of 166,878.62 USD.
 Donations of food and non-food items for which the cost is not estimated.

In Abobo
The municipality first identified public schools to provide shelter to victims.
Stadiums, hospitals, etc., have been requisitioned for this purpose. In addition, these victims have benefited from the food and non-drinking estimated at millions.

Conclusion
The year 2014 was the scene of hydrometeorological accidents where major material damage and loss of life were recorded. The human toll was heavy in both municipalities. More than 20 people perished under the rising water, landslides and landslides, not to mention numerous material damage recorded. It is also a very dramatic situation which has been plagued with heavy expenditures by the authorities and the population. However, the scale of the crises in 2014 made the policy aware that the torrential rains are a serious problem for its municipalities. Thus, initiatives have been taken by these companies to anticipate and manage the impacts of bad weather. One of the actions taken is the release of the Gobelet districts in early 2015 by the Minister of Environment and Urban Sanitation and the destruction of the fence of ALPHA Blondy located on the natural drain of water in Bonoumin (Riviera 2) in Cocody. As for Attécoubé and Abobo, after several resistance attempts, the operation was finally implemented.
At the end of this study, the aim is to reinforce the operation of getting rid of occupied non aedificandi neighbourhoods for the constructions and the monitoring of the specifications for the occupation of urban spaces in order to avoid possible risks and their enormous damage.