Tsunami Relief Funding

Mercy Corps (OR, USA) is requesting financial contributions to assist the ongoing emergency response of the Mercy Corps Geospatial Relief & Development Team in South Asia. The organisation currently has more than sixty staff deployed in the hardest hit areas of Southeast Asia. A volunteer base of more than fifty GIS and remote-sensing professionals in the Pacific Northwest has been mobilised to apply geospatial technologies to expedite the flow of aid and accelerate recovery. Funding will enable the establishment of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) geospatial co-ordination team to reduce redundant efforts in emergency mapping. A geospatial data repository will be created for all NGOs, in collaboration with the United Nations Geospatial Initiative, throughout all phases of recovery. In particular, the funds will be used for travel and related expense to support experts in GIS and remote sensing in the area. Mercy Corps has secured donations for nearly all needed software, hardware and lab space. A special designation and URL has been set up for donating to the Geospatial Relief & Development Team, see below. All funds collected from the online designation 'Geospatial Initiative' or from this URL are earmarked only for the Geospatial Relief & Development Team.