MapAction needs your help to respond to an ever growing number of natural disasters!

1Spatial will be partnering with MapAction over the coming months raising funds and awareness around the devastating events that have unfolded in Turkiye and Syrian Arab Republic. 1Spatial are committed to matching all employee, family and friends donations across the globe that are collected on this JustGiving page by March 23rd, up to our fundraising target. We will be hosting fundraising events over the next couple of weeks so please join your colleagues in elevating our efforts for this important charity.

MapAction is a charity that provides maps and spatial analysis for disaster relief agents and helps emergency respondents be better prepared for natural disasters. The volunteer-propelled organisation needs funds to support the vital work its teams are doing in the emergency response to the earthquakes that have already killed nearly 50,000 people in Turkiye and Syrian Arab Republic. MapAction’s presence in Turkiye was requested by the UN to map the post-earthquake landscape: infrastructure hubs, hospital & health facilities, shelters & refugee camps, the weather, shake intensity and collapsed buildings are some of the key things MapAction is mapping for UN and other relief agencies.

All funds raised will go to meeting the costs of this deployment, and if anything is left over we would like to use it on the next one as we have been asked to help with a cyclone response in Madagascar and Mozambique. The number of natural disasters has doubled since the 1980s.

For the last 20 years, in 137 emergency deployments in 80 countries - and hundreds of disaster preparedness events to help everyone work better - MapAction has provided international and regional relief agencies, governments and NGOs with maps, data-driven tools and solutions to ensure decisions about key resources like food, water and housing are fairly and efficiently made. This all helps to save and improve lives.

“The suffering that natural disasters cause to millions of people can be reduced with better decision-making. At MapAction we help to make that happen by providing people from the Geospatial and Data Sectors with a framework to effectively apply their skills and goodwill,” says MapAction’s Ian Davis. “The work our volunteers do inspires me so much that I ran a marathon to support it, against the expectations of all who know me and the clear wishes of my knees.”

Vickie White joined 1Spatial as Senior Account Manager with a focus on utilities in September 2021. Vickie had previously been a board member at MapAction, as well as a volunteer for the charity over 20 years, working on several emergency response operations including the Asian Tsunami, Typhoon Haiyan and Hurricane Dean and capacity building missions in Iraq, Tajikistan and Mozambique.

“I joined MapAction in late 2001 as member number six at the time. We’ve now grown to 65 volunteers worldwide. I’d just finished a Masters in GIS and wanted to do something worthwhile to fill my time. The charity was embarking on it’s growth plans and I had the required GIS skills it seemed a very natural fit with like minded individuals who I now count as among my closest friends." Vickie White

Please join 1Spatial, Vickie and help MapAction to make a real difference for people in need in devastated disaster landscapes.