On Friday, July 26, 2024, a group of YouthMappers in the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology participated in a meaningful Mapathon. The focus of this event was to map buildings, roads and water pathways in Tongaat, the northern part of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal that was destroyed by a Tornado weather event on the 3rd of June 2024. The Tornado resulted in devastation in the areas around Tongaat causing injuries, and damage to the environmental ecosystem and infrastructure. Communities were deeply affected, with thousands displaced and needing humanitarian assistance.

During the Mapathon, students used the HOT Tasking Manager to map buildings, roads, and water pathways. Refreshments were provided for the participants. The event was hosted in person and online through Google Meet for participants who could not make it to campus. Most of our online participants were students from other countries.

The Mapathon was organized by Mulisa Mudau, Martha Djan and Jack Kgwale, founders of the Water from the Rock initiative project. The project has emerged victorious in the Global Integrated Flood and Drought Management Competitions for Youth Lead Projects 2023. Water from the Rock initiative ”focuses on promoting access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information, aligning with the goals set out in The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.”

The project’s main objectives are to raise awareness and preparedness through digital and hard copies, disaster packages, map vulnerable communities based on specific criteria, and create an application that implements geofencing techniques in disaster-prone areas.

The Water from the Rock initiative project is supported by the Integrated Drought Management Programme and the Associated Programme on Flood Management, joint programmes of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Global Water Partnership (GWP) in collaboration with the Water Youth Network (WYN)