Update #3 on Vanuatu and on our deployment there

This is an update on the situation as we understand it with regards to Vanuatu

The situation at 1900 UTC 16 March 2015

Agencies are still making assessments of damage and needs across the many islands of Vanuatu.

“There are more than 100,000 people likely homeless, every school destroyed, full evacuation centres, damage to health facilities and the morgue,” according to Collet van Rooyen from Oxfam h

UNICEF says nearly 60,000 children are in need http://www.unicef.org/media/media_81281.html

WHO says roads blocked with debris, knocked down bridges, and flooding are complicating relief efforts. Electricity is out in many places and phones and Internet systems are down or are unreliable. The extent of the damage continues to be assessed. http://www.wpro.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2015/20150316/en/

Status of our deployment

We were activated at 2200hrs 15 March 2015 at the request of UN-OCHA. Our deployment is expected to last until 20 March 2015. Network members have already responded with great enthusiasm and energy but we have a long way to go yet.

The deployment is extremely significant with a wide range of tasks running

Over 200 lines have been added to the information management database. This is being used as a resource by many agencies on the ground who are also providing data to keep it up to date. We need volunteers to continue the data mining and processing tasks

The MicroMappers platform is up and running processing images of damage. We need SBTF volunteers to act as GeoClickers to geolocate images that have been through the micromapping platform.

We’re starting to be to publish maps from the MicroMappers platform. https://micromappers.wordpress.com/maps/

We have an urgent need for volunteers

We have an urgent need for more volunteers across all teams. Please sign up now https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14sqEFVCMWdInrKiWxFVw8XBGiawPt-61bBxjQQ6AwZY/viewform (sign up only available to SBTF members)

Even if it is only for a short while. Every minute really counts.

We have also put out a call for more coordinators. If you would be interested in volunteering as a coordinator please get in touch

Keep in touch

If you’ve got any questions, comments, suggestions then drop me or anyone in the core team an email or ask in the SBTF general chat room on Skype.