World Environment 2015, 5(3): 101-111 DOI: 10.5923/j.env.20150503.02 Suitability Analysis of Resettlement Sites for Flood Disaster Victims in Lokoja and Environs Isa Ibrahim 1,* , Kolawole H. Muibi 1 , Abayomi T. Alaga 1 , Oyekanmi Babatimehin 2 , Olusola Ige-Olumide 3 , Oloko-oba O. Mustapha 1 , Sedenu A. Hafeez 1 1 Cooperative Information Network, National Space Research and Development Agency, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria 2 Department of Geography, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria 3 Institute of Ecology Obafemi Awolowo Universty, Ile-ife, Nigeria Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify suitable sites for resettlement of flood disaster victims in Lokoja environs using Remote Sensing and GIS. The bio-physical and socio-economic factors used for evaluation of environmental suitability of the resettlement site are land use/land cover, slope, elevation and nearness to road. Land use/land cover information were extracted from NigeriaSat1 image of 2007, contours and drainage information were extracted from Sheet 246 & 247 of the Nigeria Topographic Map Series of 1963 while road networks were extracted from the Geo-Eye images. By analyzing the information extracted, weights were assigned to the information based on their suitability for human settlement. Weighted overlay techniques were then applied to derive a flood resettlement suitability map. The individual analysis of these factors indicated that 82.78% of the study area has a gentle slope (lowland) while 17.22% of the area is found to be highland which is hilly and steepy. In terms of land use/land cover, 75.15% of the study area is suitable such as forest and rock outcrop while 24.85% representing built-up, water body, sand deposits and wetland are not suitable and cannot be recommended for settlement. The result showed that about ¾ of the study area is not suitable for human resettlement while a minimal 10.62% is suitable having an area of 2564.44ha with 5 locations (4.14%) out of the suitable sites having a continuous area of more than 100ha. Therefore before planning and implementing any resettlement program, environmental suitability, ecological carrying capacity and sustainability of the area has to be analyzed thoroughly. Keywords Resettlement, Flood Disaster, GIS and Remote Sensing, Weighted Overlay 1. Introduction Resettlement is a process whereby a community’s housing, assets, and public infrastructure are rebuilt in another location [1]. Relocation of settlement is sometimes perceived to be the best option after a disaster for one or more of the following reasons: first, people have already been displaced by the disaster, second, their current location is judged to be uninhabitable, and third, it may be considered the best option to reduce vulnerability to the risk of future disasters. Settlement relocation may be appropriate when the vulnerability of the disaster is site-specific. Informal settlements in urban areas, for instance, are often located on sites where topography makes the site’s vulnerabilities impossible to mitigate. Not all risks are site-specific and relocation itself entails numerous risks. Assessing adequate sites for relocating disaster-affected communities can be an enormous challenge. Unsuitable new sites can lead to loss of * Corresponding author: ibrahisa@yahoo.com (Isa Ibrahim) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/env Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved livelihoods, one’s own community, cultural alienation and create further poverty which makes many people to abandon the new sites and return to the location of their original community. The economic, social, and environmental costs of relocation should be carefully assessed before the decision to relocate is finalized, and other mitigation options should be considered. Human settlements are foci for many economic, social, and governmental processes. The government has taken resettlement program as the best strategy to address the multi-faceted socio-economic and food security problems in areas where there is high population density and severe ecological degradation. In a country like Nigeria, where the majority of the people are agrarian and directly depend on the natural environment for their livelihood, environmental suitability analysis is necessary for settling people in a new resettlement site. In kogi state, Lokoja environs is one of the areas resettled by people originated from the neighborhood states like Niger, Nasarawa and Benue states. Currently, the area is inhabited by 150,000 residents. The criteria used by Nigeria Government to identify site for resettlement was simply based on the existence of vacant space with productive virgin agricultural land.