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Simulating anticipatory actions as part of disaster management: MapEx 2024
The 18th edition of MapEx, the annual disaster simulation event run by MapAction, was recently held in the Peak District National Park, UK. For the first time, the imagined scenario – a cyclone in Madagascar – included major anticipatory action components.
The 2024 edition of MapEx, MapAction’s annual disaster simulation scenario, was the largest ever, with approximately 100 staff, volunteers, partners and observers in attendance in the Peak District National Park from 7 to 9 June.
During MapEx, each team has to process incoming data requests and create a set of baseline maps to help decision-makers to get a clearer understanding of the impacts and effects on at risk-communities.
MapEx2024 was held in the Peak District National Park in the UK. Most volunteers camped on-site, as per MapAction tradition.
The 2024 edition of MapEx, MapAction’s annual disaster simulation scenario, was the largest ever, with approximately 100 staff, volunteers, partners and observers in attendance in the Peak District National Park from 7 to 9 June.
During MapEx, each team has to process incoming data requests and create a set of baseline maps to help decision-makers to get a clearer understanding of the impacts and effects on at risk-communities.
MapEx2024 was held in the Peak District National Park in the UK. Most volunteers camped on-site, as per MapAction tradition.
This edition was the largest ever, with more than 100 people attending. During the three-day exercise, MapAction volunteers, both old and new, were split into teams and subjected to unexpected and challenging requests for maps and data products from role-players – government officials, and representatives of NGOs, civil society organizations and journalists – who ‘upend the script’ during the event.
For the first time, the disaster simulation response, in which volunteers are split into teams and have to visualize incoming data from various agencies and stakeholders, included anticipatory action components.
While some teams continued to work on emergency response components, others worked on developing risk models based on data sets before the fictional cyclone. The INFORM Risk Index, a global, open-source risk assessment for humanitarian crises and disasters, was used as a methodology.
A team brainstorms in the anticipatory action room. MapAction volunteers only learn the scenario details at the beginning of the exercise. This is designed to make the simulation feel ‘live’.
MapEx2024 included operational partners and observers, who often role-played themselves or others during the exercise to try and upend the script. Here, Seheno Andrianiaina from Start Network Madagascar, engages with a team in the anticipatory action room.
Bakhtiyar Ospanov from the Centre for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (a Central Asian regional disaster agency and a longtime MapAction partner), observes proceedings in the anticipatory action room.
Ronald Christiaans, United Nations Disaster Assessment Coordination (UNDAC) office, talks to Piet Gerrits, one of the volunteers at MapEx. MapAction has been deployed to dozens of crises in the last 20 years to support UNDAC teams.
A team member reviews a map during the final debrief.
For the first time, the disaster simulation response, in which volunteers are split into teams and have to visualize incoming data from various agencies and stakeholders, included anticipatory action components.
While some teams continued to work on emergency response components, others worked on developing risk models based on data sets before the fictional cyclone. The INFORM Risk Index, a global, open-source risk assessment for humanitarian crises and disasters, was used as a methodology.
A team brainstorms in the anticipatory action room. MapAction volunteers only learn the scenario details at the beginning of the exercise. This is designed to make the simulation feel ‘live’.
MapEx2024 included operational partners and observers, who often role-played themselves or others during the exercise to try and upend the script. Here, Seheno Andrianiaina from Start Network Madagascar, engages with a team in the anticipatory action room.
Bakhtiyar Ospanov from the Centre for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction (a Central Asian regional disaster agency and a longtime MapAction partner), observes proceedings in the anticipatory action room.
Ronald Christiaans, United Nations Disaster Assessment Coordination (UNDAC) office, talks to Piet Gerrits, one of the volunteers at MapEx. MapAction has been deployed to dozens of crises in the last 20 years to support UNDAC teams.
A team member reviews a map during the final debrief.
Participants only receive details of the emergency at 8.30am on the first day and are forced to adapt quickly to meet all the requests from different stakeholders. This helps decision-makers to quickly visualize and assess risks and impacts, and seek mitigation solutions.
Watch a video from MapEx 2024 here.
Since being founded in 2002, MapAction has been involved in more than 150 emergency responses. The simulation exercises help to ensure that MapAction staff and volunteers are as well prepared as possible, so that they can support real-life emergency response and anticipatory action programmes.
MapAction works across the disaster-risk-reduction cycle: in emergency response, training and anticipatory action programmes. Its volunteers are specialists in information management in humanitarian crises.
Unsurprisingly, given the name of the organization and <the event, maps feature heavily in the exercise. The ‘map wall’ gives decision-makers a clear overview of what is happening, who is affected, and where, in a disaster. This is critical to get aid to affected people.
This was the 18th edition of MapEx, MapAction’s annual disaster simulation scenario (previously known as Gilded). For the last three years, the event has been funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
In 2023, MapEx was held on the Isle of Great Cumbrae in Scotland.
MapAction was founded in 2002 and has been involved in more than 150 emergency responses since. For more details, visit: mapaction.org
MapAction works across the disaster-risk-reduction cycle: in emergency response, training and anticipatory action programmes. Its volunteers are specialists in information management in humanitarian crises.
Unsurprisingly, given the name of the organization and <the event, maps feature heavily in the exercise. The ‘map wall’ gives decision-makers a clear overview of what is happening, who is affected, and where, in a disaster. This is critical to get aid to affected people.
This was the 18th edition of MapEx, MapAction’s annual disaster simulation scenario (previously known as Gilded). For the last three years, the event has been funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
In 2023, MapEx was held on the Isle of Great Cumbrae in Scotland.
MapAction was founded in 2002 and has been involved in more than 150 emergency responses since. For more details, visit: mapaction.org
The MapEx simulation exercise helps to ensure that MapAction staff and volunteers are as well prepared as possible, so that they can support real-life emergency response and anticipatory action programmes.
The work is funded by USAID - Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and involves a number of observers and partners from UNOCHA, the British Red Cross, Start Network, REACT Disaster Response Center for Emergency Situations and Disaster Risk Reduction and the British Cartographic Society.