Kinshasa Floods & Democratic Republic of Congo

Prelims – Current events of International Importance | World Geography

Mains (GS I) – Geography of the World | Important Geophysical phenomena

Why in News?

The flooding disaster in Kinshasa was a symptom of recent land use change, which has occurred rapidly in the city, turning it into a sprawling urban settlement without the necessary drainage infrastructure.

• Kinshasa – It is the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• The city is the most densely populated city in the DRC, the most populous city and 3^rd-largest metropolitan area in Africa.
• The Ndjili River and its tributary (Lukaya) flows through the city.
• At least 2% of the population live in areas prone to flooding. Urban infrastructure, especially flood-related, is non-existent or inadequate.
• Local rains combined with runoff from torrential rains coming from neighboring Congo Central Province overwhelmed the city’s small urban tributaries.

Democratic Republic of Congo

• It is a country located in Central Africa.
• Nomenclature - Refers to the Congo River, which drains a large basin that lies mostly in the republic.
• It has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean but is otherwise landlocked.
• By land area, it is the 2^nd-largest country in Africa and the 11^th-largest in the world.
• Bordered countries - Congo is bounded to the
  • North by the Central African Republic and South Sudan
  • East by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania
  • Southeast by Zambia; and to the southwest by Angola
  • West are the country’s short Atlantic coastline, the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and Congo (Brazzaville).
• Geographical features - The lowest point occurs at Lake Mai-Ndombe and the highest point is reached in the hills of Mobayi-Mbongo and Zongo in the north.
• The volcanic Virunga Mountains stretch across the Western Rift Valley north of Lake Kivu.
• The Mitumba Mountains stretch along the Western Rift Valley
• Important Lakes - Albert, Edward, Kivu, Tanganyika, and Mweru.
• Natural Resources - Boasts vast deposits of industrial diamonds, cobalt, and copper; one of the largest forest reserves in Africa; and significant hydroelectric potential.
• Economy - It is one of the poorest countries in the world.
• Society - DRC ranks 164 out of 174 countries on the 2020 Human Capital Index.
• DRC has one of the highest stunting rates (42% of children under age five), and malnutrition is the underlying cause of almost half of the deaths of children under the age of five. It has very high fertility rate.

Reference

Down to Earth | Democratic Republic of Congo