More than 30,000 residents in high-risk areas in Mozambique have been evacuated as Tropical Cyclone Kenneth makes its way towards the coastal districts of Macomia and Mocimboa da Praia. This tropical cyclone comes a little more than a month after the country was devastated by Tropical Cyclone Idai, the deadliest and costliest in its history. Kenneth is the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the southern African nation in known history, but its impact is not expected to be as devastating as that of Idai. One difference is the southern area where Kenneth is headed is more populated. Kenneth is also expected to hit the coastal areas of Dar es Salaam, the port city of Tanga and Pemba Island in Tanzania. UNICEF already has begun getting aid in place ahead of the cyclone.
When crises like this occur, Maxar is committed to supporting the humanitarian community and fulfilling its purpose of Building a Better World by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts. As part of our Open Data Program, Maxar will publicly release data of the affected areas to support disaster response as it becomes available.
Any imagery or data distributed through the Open Data Program is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 license (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licensing allows for non-commercial use of the information, meaning it can quickly be integrated into first responder workflows with organizations like Team Rubicon, the Red Cross and other non-profits. If commercial companies are interested in using the data distributed through the Open Data Program, it can be purchased by contacting us here.
Pre-event imagery has been posted on our Open Data Program website. Please continue to check this site and our social media channels for updates on post-event data.