April

​'Nobody can stop natural disaster, we are the cause and we are the remedy' – Santosh Kalwar

​I'm sure that all of you are aware of the recent cyclone which hit Vanuatu on 13th March, causing much devastation to the chain of small South Pacific islands. Cyclone Pam, as it was named, has now been regarded as one of the most severe tropical cyclone disasters in the history of Vanuatu, and has resulted in the tragic loss of 16 lives. The majority of the damage lies with the capital of Port Vila, although other parts of the 65 inhabited islands have also been affected by the natural disaster. The United Nations have now confirmed that humanitarian aid has been delivered to all of the affected islands of the country, providing food packages and water for more than 166,000 people.

In order to further support the humanitarian aid being provided by the United Nations, as well as many other charity relief projects such as Oxfam, UNICEF, and the Australian Red Cross, IC-ENC will be releasing two up-to-date ENCs of Port Vila, produced by UKHO. These two ENCs are now available unencrypted and free of charge via the IC-ENC website, and will also be included in this week's exchange set.

On a separate note, James attended the North Indian Ocean Hydrographic Commission (NIOHC) meeting in Oman, which was held from 16th – 18th March. At the meeting, James delivered a joint presentation with Cdr. Ahmed Naguib from the Egyptian Navy Hydrographic Department (ENHD). The presentation provided an insight into ENHD's experiences of IC-ENC as a new member, and discussed IC- ENC's provision of services and production support to ENHD during the joining period.

The flow of data into IC-ENC remains high, with week 11 containing 239 individual ENC files, which makes it our largest exchange set since 2011. As a result, the total number of issued ENCs now stands at 5,535 as of week 13. Whilst on the topic of data, here is a quick reminder that this week's exchange set (week 14) will be released a day early, on Thursday 2nd April 2015.

On a final note, I wish everyone a very Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

References:
- United Nations (2015) Cyclone Pam: UN Agency reports all 22 Vanuatu islands reached with relief supplies [online] available at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp? NewsID=50440#.VRldmPzF_ao [accessed on 30/03/2015]

- Bolton Museums (2013) Easter Crafts – Horwich Library [online] available at http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/1000/easter-crafts-horwich-library [accessed on 31/03/2015] ​


Email a link