ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on effective survival measures against natural hazards and environmental problems in settled areas. The common natural hazards that have drawn global media attention in the recent past include earthquakes, floods, storms, tornadoes, soil erosion, landslides, drought and desertification. Every state in Nigeria suffers from gully erosion, although the southern states dominate when it comes to size of gullies. Gully erosion within settlements has posed serious threats to human life, buildings and other structures. Since damages caused by natural occurring hazards have been on the increase in recent times, preventive operations, involving structural and non-structural measures are needed to be adopted for implementation especially in areas of human settlement. Various structural measures could be used to control periodic inundation of areas that are liable to flooding. They include check dams, flood walls, and adequate drainage network in form of floodways and canals. These structural measures will prevent inundation of floodplains in different ways.