News
Monday 31 October 2005
Lecturer ready for disaster relief role
The thought of a lecturer travelling across the world to help with an international crisis might conjure up images of fictional adventurer Indiana Jones. But this could become a reality for Nottingham Trent University academic Dr Steve Godby, who is part of a small team of expert volunteers ready to be deployed when natural disaster strikes.
Dr Godby, a senior lecturer in physical geography, is a volunteer for UK-based international charity MapAction, which specialises in the mapping of disaster areas following events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and famine.
The group uses Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology to produce instant, real-time maps of disaster areas which are then used by emergency workers and relief teams as part of the aid effort. The maps are so precise they can show everything from damaged road networks and bridges to the locations of wells and the whereabouts of aid organisations’ bases.
MapAction was first deployed to Sri-Lanka last year in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami disaster and has since been involved in numerous locations including Niger, Darfur and Sudan and most recently Pakistan. Dr Godby has been part of the UK support team, sourcing data from existing maps and satellite images needed by the team on the ground in Pakistan.
Dr Godby, of Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, has also just finished helping to train United Nations staff in collecting and mapping data in disaster zones. This was done over five days in Salzburg for the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) organisation and included a mountain top exercise with the Austrian Mountain Rescue team. He's now on standby to be deployed by MapAction when required.
Dr Godby said: “MapAction is doing a valuable job supporting the UN team and other agencies in Pakistan. Our maps now hang in the UN Emergency Response Centre, the Presidential Secretariat, the Foreign Ministry, and the offices of a host of aid agencies.”
The Dean of the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Professor Dave Butcher, said: “Steve’s work for MapAction is invaluable in its practical assistance to people in need, and in bringing the real world into the geography courses that we run in the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.”
ENDS
Notes for editors: To see the MapAction website visit www.mapaction.org
UNDAC is helping co-ordinate the international response to the earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir and has been joined by a MapAction team based in Islamabad. The team have provided maps of blocked roads, helicopter access, landslides and helped to pinpoint safe and suitable locations for providing shelter for the displaced population.
When MapAction volunteers are scrambled, they fly out with commercial airlines, carrying all the kit as hold luggage and hand baggage. The volunteers usually stay in disaster areas for between seven and ten days.
For more information please contact:
Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 2650 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 6589 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
