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)

Mozambique’s rivers are flooded periodically from heavy rainfall in the highlands of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The 2000 floods received international attention and assistance but more recent events have also harmed livelihoods in the country. Most recently in February of this year extensive flooding displaced 74,000 people in the Zambesi basin.

Two courses were developed by MapAction specially to meet the particular needs of flood risk planning, but also to introduce the practicalities of mapping as an emergency coordination tool. The introductory phase of the syllabus was delivered in July 2007, and the advanced modules in November.

Twenty-eight students took the introductory course, which included instruction in field data collection using GPS, and also introduced the mainly technically-orientated students to the principles of humanitarian operations. Eighteen students went on to complete the advanced course which culminated in a disaster simulation exercise, based on a tropical cyclone and associated flooding.

MapAction intends to follow up the project early in 2008 to check on learning outcomes and to identify any further opportunities for disaster preparedness and other risk reduction initiatives in Mozambique. Meanwhile, several students who attended the training have put their skills to use in response to the severe flooding which occured in January.