Four MapAction team members are on their way to Haiti in response to the devastating earthquake that struck the country last night. The team is flying out from the UK on an aid aircraft chartered by the UK Government. They are travelling with the UK's urban search and rescue (USAR) specialists provided by regional fire services.
In the massive international aid response that has swung into action, an early crucial need is likely to be for information to steer and coordinate delivery of relief assistance across the affected area. MapAction carried out a similar role following the Sumatra earthquake four months ago: the Haiti emergency shows signs of being an even larger scale disaster.
MapAction's Chief Executive Nigel Woof said: "Within days we expect that dozens - or probably hundreds - of aid organisations will be trying to make sense of the shattered landscape and communities in Haiti. Our job is to gather information that can be mapped to create a shared operational picture, so that people most in need get thee right types of help".
This is MapAction's second mission to Haiti: in September 2008 the NGO deployed a team there in response to a string of tropical storms that struck the north of the country.