In October 2007, MapAction completed its first 50 field and training missions. Prince Harry, the charity's Royal Patron, attended a reception and presentation to mark this milestone. About 140 guests and members of MapAction met at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in central London. (Picture: MapAction)

Flooding in north-eastern Ghana in September killed at least six people and affected over 260,000, according to the Government. Thousands of homes were destroyed and the flooding also caused major bridges to collapse and destroyed crops. Following the deployment of a UN assessment and coordination group, a MapAction team deployed to support them from Tamale in northern Ghana.

MapAction team member Philip Moore has returned from a one-month attachment to the UN Joint Logistics Centre responding to the flooding emergency in Pakistan which affected more than one million people. Based in Islamabad, he produced situation maps for the logistics coordination cluster and other humanitarian organisations.

On Friday 17 August 2007, Hurricane Dean tore through the eastern Caribbean and then strengthened to Category 4 as it brushed the south coast of Jamaica. MapAction deployed an emergency response team to the island. The team worked closely with government agencies, the UN and Red Cross to assess and map damage and immediate relief needs.

MapAction has signed a Framework Partnership Agreement with ECHO, the humanitarian aid department of the European Commission. The agreement will enable MapAction to increase its level of response in humanitarian emergencies, as well as enabling other disaster preparedness work. It provides a mechanism for ECHO to provide funding for specific missions by MapAction. 

Anne Frankland of MapAction travels to South Sudan in August to start a six-month contract with the UN Joint Logistics Centre. Anne will be replacing Nick McWilliam, also of MapAction, who has been in Sudan since early 2007. The post is based in Juba, and involves building local capacity for mapping transport routes across southern Sudan. 

MapAction will be training engineers and disaster response professionals in the use of GIS and GPS technologies in a two-stage mission to Mozambique over the coming months. The project was instigated by the Dean of Mozambique’s technical university (UDM) who, recognising a need for predictive flood mapping, sought MapAction’s help.