South East Asia Tsunami Disaster and mapping

Ever wondered how the maps of devastated areas are produced? How governments decide where and when to send relief to specific areas? Their decisions are based on spatial data – or maps – as this short article describing the work of MapAction indicates.

MapAction post-tsunami operation

MapAction is a UK based international charity, which offers rapid response mapping to aid agencies, governments and NGOs for overseas humanitarian disasters. They deploy a team of volunteer mapping experts to disaster zones within 48 hours to map the area using satellite technology and on site data collection.

MapAction was set up to offer rapid response mapping to aid agencies, governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for overseas humanitarian disasters. It’s deployment to assist the Sri Lankan Government co-ordinate disaster relief in the wake of the tsunami disaster has now been completed.

MapAction:

  • Deploys a team of volunteer mapping experts to disaster zones within 48 hours to map the area, using satellite technology and on-site data collection
  • Produces high-quality, user-friendly, real-time maps of transport routes, buildings and people movement, so that shelter, food, water and medicine supplies can be targeted effectively
  • The team typically leaves a disaster zone after ten days at the end of the emergency phase, having trained local people when necessary so the work can continue
  • Can also support longer term relief operations such as famines, refugee resettlement and can assist with disaster response planning
  • The MapAction team is made up of unpaid expert volunteers and work is funded entirely by donations

Emergency disaster relief

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, when the infrastructure has broken down – transport routes are blocked, electricity supplies falter and people are left without the basic necessities - shelter, food and drinking water.

Before the MapAction team arrive at the disaster zone they will have produced preliminary maps based on satellite imagery. On arrival the team collects information to help make sense of the situation.

After the first few days MapAction’s role evolves with field teams collecting information via global positioning systems (GPS) and feeding it directly to geographical information system (GIS) experts who communicate any changes via maps. In Sri Lanka, after the tsunami in December 2004, the team worked around the clock, producing maps to guide distribution of resources by government and NGOs.

The team typically leaves a disaster zone after ten days, having trained local people so the work can continue. However, MapAction can be involved for months after the initial disaster. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the charity continues to support the Indian charity SEEDS who are working in the Islands assisting with the rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Capacity building

Developing mapping skills among the local population is another element of MapAction’s work. This can take place after a humanitarian crisis, or, in a longer term planning context. From the outset in an emergency situation, MapAction aims to work closely with local people to train them ‘on the job’ in GPS and GIS technology.

In Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, in addition to training local people, MapAction set up a national mapping infrastructure. This brought together the government, NGOs and universities to ensure that all groups were using the same data sets and maps to guide reconstruction.

Other work includes in Delhi, MapAction responded in September 2004 to a request for help from The Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE), an NGO working to improve clean water distribution to low income areas in Delhi, to develop their data collection skills and map production techniques.

Mapping assistance

MapAction also offers mapping assistance to governments and NGOs in the development stages of relief operations. For example, in Lesotho, MapAction was invited to help the UN World Food Programme their work to alleviate food shortages in the country in 2003. The maps used by the UN to supply food aid were out-of-date and they wanted to ensure that food was reaching the right places. MapAction produced new maps for future operations.

You can download a number of maps from MapAction’s website for use in geography classrooms, these include maps of damage to:

  • transport infrastructure by region (roads and bridges)
  • services (school and hospital buildings)

There is also a range of other maps, including:

  • Topography (elevation)
  • Hazards (land mines)
  • Human (numbers of dead and survivors, sites of temporary shelter and number staying there)
  • Organisational aspects (including locations of buildings, people deployed for specific Aid purposes, medical supplies delivered)

Alun Morgan offers suggestions on <a href= target=blank>using maps</a> in a past theme.