Since Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu on March 13 and 14, a team of drone pilots organized by the Humanitarian UAV Network (UAViators) has been gathering high-resolution imagery of affected areas to aid the humanitarian response by the Vanuatu government, United Nations, World Bank, and others.
Cycle through the UAViators mosaics served by Mapbox.
The imagery collected by UAViators is owned by the Vanuatu government, published on Mapbox via our integration with Pix4D, and shared with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and Micromappers, whose volunteers trace roads and buildings and evaluate damage to individual structures.
Red structures are heavily damaged, blue structures moderately damaged, and yellow structures undamaged.
The UN estimates that Cyclone Pam killed 24 people, affected 166,000, and damaged 90 percent of the buildings in Vanuatu. Natural disasters aren’t preventable, but humanitarian mapping and drone technology can facilitate preparation and response. Interested in making vulnerable communities more resilient to natural disasters? Check out the Missing Maps project.