During August and September, 2008, a series of four tropical storms and hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike) caused a severe and protracted humanitarian disaster in Haiti, affecting more than 800,000 people. Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav passed through the Caribbean in late August, 2008, both causing heavy rains over Haiti. With the ground saturated, rain bands from Hurricane Hanna then swirled over northern Haiti for four days, causing extensive flooding and mudslides. Badly hit was the northern city of Gonaives, which was flooded to a depth of about two metres with water and thick mud…Thankfully, GeoEye provided a one-meter high resolution IKONOS satellite image of the city and surroundings through a data grant from its Foundation. In addition, relief personnel in Gonaives were encouraged to collect and report GPS data, and MapAction organized this flow of data, producing detailed maps from the IKONOS data along with of the resources being deployed in Gonaives. These maps were then fed back to personnel on the ground and into situation reports deployed to the wider humanitarian community.
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