East Africa has been hit by the worst famine in more than 60 years, affecting about 3.7 Million people in Somalia alone. Due to the instable political situation in the country, the distribution of relief goods is immensely hampered.
As a result thousands of people are fleeing from famine and violence to neighbouring countries, such as the Dolo Ado region of Ethiopia, which shelters already about 120,000 people in developing refugee camps.
SAFER was triggered on 27 July 2011 in order to provide competent authorities with information about refugee camps.
Based on Landsat-5 data, first reference maps were produced on 28 July 2011 covering the regions of Dolo Ado in Ethiopia. The day after, several refugee camp maps were produced, covering the areas of Dolo Ado, Buramino, Kobe and Melkadika. Since that date, these maps were updated regularly.
On 28 July, the activation was extended in order to cover areas in Somalia. In the following days, reference maps covering the areas of Luuq, Waajid and Garbahaarrey were also produced.
The activation was closed on 05/08/11 and reactivated on 22/08/11 in order to provide a situation update.
In total, more than 17 maps have been delivered since the activation of the pre-operational version of the GMES Emergency Management Service. Difference data sources have been used at this occasion, among which images coming from QuickBird-2, IKONOS, WorldView-2, GeoEye-1.
- Bokolmanyo Refugee Camp
- Dolo Ado Refugee Camp
- Kobe Refugee Camp
(All credits by SAFER/DLR)