The International Charter: Space and Major Disasters was activated yesterday, on request of UNITAR/UNOSAT on behalf of UNOCHA, in order to provide satellite-based maps of floods and landslides in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi.
Over 50 people have been killed and hundreds of homes affected so far. The disastrous situation is ongoing at the moment and it is difficult for emergency responders to estimate the full impacts of the events. Landslides have severely damaged the infrastructure in the city rendering rescue operations very challenging.
As Bujumbura is situated between hills and near a lake, rain water swept into the city easily, flooding mostly poorer districts, where homes are not constructed to sustain floods this big.
