ReliefWeb

MapAction will be training engineers and disaster response professionals in the use of GIS and GPS technologies in a two-stage mission to Mozambique over the coming months. The project was instigated by the Dean of Mozambique's technical university (UDM) who, recognising a need for predictive flood mapping, sought MapAction's help.

MapAction will deliver two separate courses, at basic and advanced levels, in two mission stages in August and October. Students will include water engineers and, it is hoped, staff from the National Institute for Disaster Management.

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.

This project follows a successful similar one in Tajikistan last year. Four MapAction volunteer staff will be involved in training delivery in Mozambique, backed by the organisation's UK and European-based staff.