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Alphabet’s Loon balloons provide their first commercial internet service in Kenya

The Verge

The company’s balloons have already provided internet connectivity in the wake of disasters, like in Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria or in Peru after an earthquake in 2019 , but never as part of a large-scale commercial deployment. Download speeds of 18.9Mbps have been recorded.

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New data for strategic disaster philanthropy 

Candid

For the next 700 words, I invite you to remember the disaster events that occurred in 2019, just months before the pandemic outbreak. . In 2019, millions of people around the world were affected by disasters and humanitarian crises. Cyclone Idai struck Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, causing widespread flood destruction.

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Kenyan insurtech startup Pula raises $6M Series A to derisk smallholder farmers across Africa

TechCrunch

Some think a climate disaster wouldn’t hit their farms for a particular season; hence, they don’t ask for insurance initially. They include Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. million farmers.

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Zenysis raises $13.3M to scale its big data platform for emergencies across Africa, Asia and South America

TechCrunch

Take, for instance, its efforts in Mozambique in 2019 when the country was hit by two massive cyclones, Kenneth and Idai. Zenysis engaged the Mozambique government, and they quickly decided to use its software to create a virtual control room for the emergency response effort. . This was no mean feat.