Enabling the Implementation of UAV into Local Resource Mapping And Disaster Preparedness.

The use of new technology and innovations have always paved a new dimension for enhancing and enabling disaster risk reduction and management. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV) is one of the promising technologies in the modern world, which is a cost effective and a real time solution for the disaster risk reduction measures. Moreover, UAV is very useful in the rugged topography, steep slopes and deep valleys to understand the temporal variation of different kinds of hazards in countries like Nepal. Therefore, it is always important to understand and explore the barriers for the implementation of frontier technology into the local preparedness. This technology can be integrated into urban planning and preparing disaster risk management plans after the development of local capacity through training and awareness. The UAV survey was carried out to the Hetauda Sub-metropolitan city, the capital of the Bagmati province, Nepal. Urbanization is increasing exponentially in recent days due to rural-urban migration and people are becoming vulnerable year after year due to high frequency of natural hazards. Hetauda, an industrial city, is situated at the confluence of the two prominent national highways viz. Mahendra and Tribhuvan highways. Due to the increasing urbanization, change in land use pattern, poor watershed management, and overdrafting of groundwater by extension of impermeable surfaces in the urban areas, there have been issues of urban flooding in Hetauda. With the unavailability of spatial data and information, there are serious implications in the implementation of development plans. To account for this, we have used UAVs with the help of community including local youth for the generation of high-resolution imagery and identification of the resources. Forty five ground control points were used for the orthorectification and a single DJI Phantom 4 Pro (flew at a height of 200m) was used for the survey. More than 16244 images were captured and combined to generate an orthomosaic with 6cm resolution. The obtained orthomosaic was then digitized to generate the layers for buildings, road, blue and green infrastructures, flood plains and so on. The findings are presented in front of the local administrative official and community for the preparation of disaster risk management plan for the future.