A malaria mapping project in Nairobi and Oxford has provided an unexpected benefit to MapAction's readiness for humanitarian emergencies in East Africa, in the form of detailed population maps of the region. This fills a missing information element in many disasters, which is a reliable indication of how many people are affected in a given area.

MapAction will benefit from a new three-year grant from the Man Group plc Charitable Trust, it was announced in March. The grant will fund MapAction’s emergency response capability and its capacity-building work. The Trust is aiming to grant a total of £60,000 between now and 2010. 

A MapAction team deployed to Bolivia on 26 January in response to the severe flooding that is affecting much of the country. A state of emergency has been declared by the government and more than 240,000 people are reported as affected. MapAction is working alongside a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team. (Picture: Reuters/Alertnet). Click here for Bolivia maps.

A two-stage training programme on use of GIS for disaster preparedness has been completed in Mozambique by MapAction. The course was run in partnership with Mozambique’s technical university (UDM), and also with involvement from the national disaster management agency (INCG) and UN Development Programme. (Picture: MapAction)

A dramatic rise in disaster events is attributed to global warming by leading aid agencies who have issued reports recently. Looking back on 2007, an Oxfam director said that "This is no freak year" and that it was part of a pattern of less predictable weather events. The NGO MapAction is anticipating more weather-related emergencies in future.  

A team of four volunteers from MapAction joined the international relief effort in the devastating floods in southern Mexico, in November 2007. In the flooded city of Villahermosa in Tabasco province, more than 80,000 people took refuge in schools and churches. This placed them at risk from diseases such as dengue fever and cholera. (Picture: Reuters/Alertnet)

A MapAction team deployed in October to the Dominican Republic where Tropical Storm Noel caused severe flooding and displaced more than 64,000 people. More than 80% of the country has been affected. This was MapAction’s second emergency mission in the Caribbean region this year, having sent a team to Jamaica following Hurricane Dean. (Picture: Reuters/Alertnet)