Last night Anne and Alex attended a meeting organised by the UN for an update on Mount Merapi, which continues to show signs of a potential large-scale eruption. Today, Alex has been working with data from the Vulcanological Survey of Indonesia and will be combining it with previously-acquired data to see the potentially affected population at various distances and directions from the volcano.

Other ongoing mapping work involves completing mapping of administrative district boundaries in detail. This seems mundane but is essential in any emergency as the civil authorities invariably collect and report information within the normal administrative framework, and situation maps cannot be made if the spatial boundaries of these division are known. 

The team has also been supplying a lot of map reprints. They are finding that about 50% of requests are for electronic copies, which is making life easier for the printer and conserving stocks of A3 paper which is in short supply. These days, many aid workers (that is, MapAction's 'customers') travel equipped with a data stick as well as a notebook, and much information is swapped in digital form.

Alex and Anne's report today was cut short by a quick duck back to their mapping laptops, having been given warning that the electricity was to be cut off (for an unexplained reason) at 19:00. Being a lightly equipped, two person team on this operation, they have no generator.