Thousands of people have been left homeless in Peru, after what’s being termed as the deadliest rains to hit the country in decades caused flooding and massive destruction across the country. The government has indicated that half the country is in a state of emergency. According to the Associated Press, at least 72 people lost their lives and thousands are now homeless after a series of storms wreaked havoc on the South American nation. At least 115,000 homes have been destroyed, roadways are impassable and 117 bridges are reportedly washed out
In response to this crisis, several groups have been activated to coordinate relief efforts in the country. Active, locally run Ushahidi deployments include:-
Background: This is a government led effort to keep citizens informed about the current situation. This map seeks to collect citizen reports from affected areas and coordinate efforts and volunteers around disbursement of relief to affected people. The team is in the process of integrating a short code for the affected population to share information through.
Contact Information: draffo@pcm.gob.pe
Owner: Hackspace Peru/ Emergencia Peru
Background: This deployment is creating awareness about areas affected by the floods from citizen generated reports. A team of volunteers from hackspace peru are actively working on customisations to the deployment, and managing content submitted onto the platform. They have, so far, received more than 20,000 posts from the web and social media.
Contact Information: contacto@emergenciaperu.com, luis.eduardo.telaya@gmail.com . You can also sign up to volunteer with them here.
Other groups supporting response efforts include:-
StandBy Task Force: They have not formally activated, but are on standby to support local initiatives. For information about how to volunteer with SBTF see their website. Follow them on Twitter @SBTaskForce.
Humanitarian Open Street Map are rapidly digitizing satellite imagery to provide maps and data to support humanitarian organizations working in Peru. Specific tasks around the Peru response can be found on the HOT OSM Wiki. Follow them on Twitter @HotOSM.
KITUM, a digital volunteer initiative from Colombia and Ecuador. They’re helping with translation of Ushahidi documentation. Follow them on twitter @kitum_sos
We’re doing our best to support these efforts and to keep track of how our software is being used for the Peru floods. In the event that there are any more maps we are not aware of, please use the comments section below and provide a link to the deployment, organization affiliation and contact information. We strongly advise potential deployers to first support these existing efforts, or coordinate with them to avoid duplication of efforts. Incase of any queries, feel free to get in touch with us via our website/support channels.
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UPDATE:
Hackspace Peru/ Emergencia Peru and Presidencia del Consejo de Ministros/ Centro de Operaciones de Emergencia Nacional have consolidated efforts to work on one deployment, with the Standby Task Force being formally activated to help with this response.