SERVIR Evaluation Finds that Flood Mapping Services Help Deliver Aid to 200,000+ Beneficiaries

Results from an ongoing evaluation indicate that SERVIR’s HYDRAFloods tool contributed to the roll-out of $2.2+ million in aid that reached over 200,000 affected people during the 2020 Cambodia floods. Food aid, sanitation measures, medicine, and shelters, were coordinated through the Humanitarian Response Forum (HRF) with the local government, Cambodian Red Cross, and the World Food Programme (WFP).

In the year leading up to the 2020 flood season, SERVIR and WFP had teamed up to develop capacity of disaster management authorities to target assistance to those in greatest need. Part of this collaboration relied on WFP’s Platform for Real-time Impact and Situation Monitoring (PRISM), which helps authorities allocate resources based on socioeconomic vulnerability data and flood maps produced with HYDRAFloods. These preparedness measures led to the use of HYDRAFlood’s flood extent maps to stem food insecurity and the cascading impacts of the floods.

Additional feedback from the evaluation identified needs for the next round of service design and delivery. This includes how officials would consider data not only from one source (e.g., Sentinel-1) but from a fused product that incorporates Landsat 8, VIIRS, Sentinel-1, and Sentinel-2. The full evaluation, led by Jacob Ramthun (University of Alabama in Huntsville) and Eric Anderson (Earth Science Branch), with partners from WFP, SERVIR-Mekong, and UAH’s Amanda Markert and Kel Markert, is planned for completion in mid-2022.

Hydraflood Cambodia
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