Southampton researchers are using mobile phone data to monitor the movement of people affected by the earthquake in Nepal, and helping with the continuing relief effort in the country.

The Nepal earthquake hit on 25 April 2015, killing over 9,000 people and injuring more than 23,000. It was followed by more than 300 aftershocks. Economic losses have been estimated at $7,065m.

Just a week after the disaster took place, the Southampton research team, working as part of the WorldPop project and Flowminder Foundation, began daily monitoring of anonymised phone data to track the displacement of populations in the affected areas. Five months on, they are continuing to supply accurate, up-to-date reports to the United Nations.

Flowminder Director and Professor of Geography at Southampton, Andy Tatem, says: “We had been planning to conduct a project of this kind in Nepal since 2014 and the Flowminder team was already in Kathmandu setting this up. As a result, when the quake struck, we were able to respond rapidly and were well-placed to help.”

Dr Robin Wilson of Geography and Environment at Southampton, who led analyses of the phone data, comments: “The use of mobile phone data that we have pioneered has now proved to be invaluable in a real scenario – helping to get support to where it is needed in an effective way.”