Tropical cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar (also known as Burma) on May 2, 2008. Since then, there have been quite a few map resources provided by both nongovernmental organizations and various government agencies to aid in assessment and rescue efforts. Below is a very brief list of a few online resources involved in providing mapping of the area:

Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action (ITHACA):
"A non-profit association, founded in November 2006 by the Politecnico of Torino and the Higher Institute on Innovation Territorial Systems (Si.T.I.). It operates on the Politecnico of Torino campus."

Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (from the German Aerospace Center (DLR)):
Based on data of the RADAR satellites TerraSAR-X (DLR/Infoterra) and ALOS/PALSAR (JAXA), the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) at DLR produces maps of the affected areas and supports the activities of the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN OCHA. Map production is carried out in the framework of the GMES Service Element RESPOND or is accomplished in collaboration with ITHACA.

United States Geological Survey (USGS):
The link above is to a Google Custom Site search for "Nargis" on the USGS site. The Survey has provided quite a bit of satellite imagery to aid rescue efforts and has collected weather related data from the satellite imagery as well.

A recent addition to the digital map collections at the Earth Sciences and Map Library is a scanned copy of the California 15 and 7.5 minute topographic quadrangles index map. The index map displays the names of both USGS series quads over a map of the state. The map is very large and scanned in two images, one for the northern part of the state, one for the southern section. You can use this online index to determine the names of topo quads for an area of interest in California.

Other online resources for topographic maps include the HISTOPO project, that includes digitized topographic maps of the Bay Area, the Monterey area, and select 30 and 60 minute topographic maps around the state.

The Earth Sciences and Map Library's digital topographic map collection is a list of topographic map sets from around the world. Many of these sets have scanned indexes that are viewable online. Individual map sheets are available for use in the library. Most maps circulate for one week.

Please use the eReference service or contact the Earth Sciences and Map Library if you have questions or need help using these online resources.

The FEMA Map Center is a good resource for many types of digital maps including FEMA issued flood maps, flood insurance studies (FISs), and flood insurance rate maps, both paper and digital (FIRMs and DFIRMs, respectively).

You can find a list of links to all the products the Mapping Service Center provides on the FEMA product page. While not all of these resources are available free, much of the data for use in geographic information systems (GIS) is downloadable at no cost.

With all of the seismic activity happening around the United States, there has been renewed interest in the USGS 2008 National Seismic Hazard Maps. These maps are published as part of the USGS' Earthquake Hazards Program which is a great source for international earthquake information.

The Earthquake Hazards Program provides access to a number of publications including earthquake news, information about quaternary faults, scientific data, and an extensive collection of digital seismic hazard maps.

The University of California, Berkeley Department of Geography Colloquium series continues Wednesday, April 23, 2008, with Dr. Gabrielle Bouleau who will discuss "Welfare rivers: French river restoration and political agendas 1900-2000."

Dr. Bouleau is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Department (LAEP) an associate researcher in environmental social sciences at Cemagref, Montpellier, France. She is co-author of "Most Cost-Effective Options: What Lessons Can Be Learned from the Black Spots Strategy of 'Agence de l'Eau Seine-Normandie' in 1987-1991?," in La Houille Blanche, and "2 Sustainable Regional Water Management for Conflicting Interests - Shifting System Boundaries in Vision-building for River Basin Management" in IAHS publication 268.

The Geography Colloquium is held Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m., in room 575 McCone Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. More information is available from the Geography Department.