Pupils Support Disaster Relief through Missing Maps

Alleyn’s students in Years 10-13 meet fortnightly to lend their support to Missing Maps - an open, collaborative project in which volunteers can help to map areas where humanitarian organisations are trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people. Their brilliant efforts have continued throughout lockdown.

Harrison in Year 12 tells us why he takes part: “Each year over 200 million people are affected by natural disasters around the world, and many places where these occur have little to no mapping of buildings and roads. This means that first responders to these crises lack the information required to make important decisions regarding relief efforts. Missing Maps helps to resolve this issue by allowing volunteers to map places that organisations such as ‘The British Red Cross’ and ‘Medecins Sans Frontieres’ have identified as in need of mapping. As volunteers we select a country and an area to map and are shown an aerial view of the area. We then zoom in and map buildings, roads and waterways which relief organisations can then use to provide disaster relief or health services.

“I enjoy Missing Maps because I know I’m making a difference and my maps may be used to find and rescue people in an emergency. It’s also very interesting learning about new areas of the world. I’ve been mapping for around two years and my maps have been used to support rescue efforts following flooding from cyclones in Vietnam, as well as disaster preparedness in Indonesia.”

Well done and thank you to every student who takes part in this important effort.