Supporting the Humanitarian Response to Tropical Storm Ana in Malawi Through Information Management

On January 26th, 2022, Malawi was strongly hit by Tropical Storm Ana. The storm affected approximately 900,000 people and further displaced 200,000 from their homes. Later in March, the country was to be hit once again by Tropical Storm Gombe, adding another 20,000 newly displaced to various makeshift camps across the 18 affected districts.

Given the scale of the humanitarian impact, nine clusters in Malawi were activated with over 60 humanitarian partners responding to the urgent needs of the population. iMMAP in Malawi scaled up efforts to accommodate the increased demand for reliable data and information management (IM) services.

The support included daily disaster flash updates, the collection and dissemination of the most recent population figures and needs, the provision of impact maps to identify affected communities, as well as the development of access maps to guide partners to the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. These products improved the overall coordination and the implementation of early response activities while providing the necessary visual guidance for rapid decision-making.

In parallel to these efforts, iMMAP also deployed the 5Ws (who does what, where and how) reporting templates, resources tracking tools and analysis of response data. This allowed for better sectoral and inter-sectoral coordination while informing partner agencies on the progress made and the gaps in the response. These efforts have been highlighted with the statement;