Monsoon rains have caused widespread flooding across Myanmar. So far, a reported 12 people have died and multiple soldiers were swept away by raging floodwaters. Heavy rain is hampering further rescue efforts. An estimated 148,300 people are taking refuge in over 300 temporary camps in the flood-affected regions. Nearly 28,000 are still in flooded homes either unable to escape or opting to stay in hopes that the waters recede. At least 30,000 acres of farmland have been destroyed due to the week-long flooding. Myanmar experienced similar extreme flooding in 2015.
When crises like this occur, DigitalGlobe is committed to supporting the humanitarian community and fulfilling Maxar’s purpose of Building a Better World by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts. As part of our Open Data Program, DigitalGlobe will publicly release pre- and post-event imagery of the affected areas to support disaster response.
Pre-event DigitalGlobe imagery has been uploaded to the Open Data site. Please continue to check the site for updates on post-event imagery.
We will continue to update this blog post and our social media feeds as more data becomes available.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
Myanmar pre-flood imagery, WorldView-2, November 18, 2017.[/caption]