DISASTER
Mitigation and relief
Geo-informatics
• Geo-informatics has been successfully used in
preparing, planning, analyzing, forecasting, mitigation
and risk assessment of various types of disasters.
• Geo-informatics tools can be actively used in handling
both pre-disaster and post disaster situations.
• From snow removal and avalanche management in
Canada and United States to flood, tsunami and
landslide hazard management in many Asian countries,
Geo-informatics tools are being actively and success
fully used all across the world.
Uses of RS for Disaster
Management
• Wildfires Volcanic eruptions
• Avalanche Tsunami
• Earthquake Landslides
• Flooding Extreme weather
• Drought Disease
• Refugees Military
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
PLANNING
Disaster
Management
LEARNING MITIGATION
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
PLANNING MITIGATION
Modelling Monitoring situations
Assessment Deployment of resources
Prediction Decision-making
Contingency Public relations
COST EFFECTIVENESS !!!
ERS
• European Remote Sensing Satellite
• All weather 25-500 metre land and sea
observations - radar and Synthetic Aperture Radar
• 3 dimensional mapping, oil spill detection, flood
extent, damage assessment, night coverage
JERS
• Japanese Earth Resources Satellite
• All weather 18 metre land and sea
observations
• 3 dimensional mapping, oil spill detection,
flood extent, damage assessment, night
coverage
QuickBird
• Launched in 1998
• Visual 1 metre land observations
• High-resolution mapping, infrastructure
identification, terrain analysis
Uses of RS for Disaster
Management
Fires
• Fire detection by satellite provides a
highly efficient means of detecting and
eradicating forest fires without large
numbers of ground-based workers
• Thermal infrared imagery shows
“hotspots” that may be distinguished
from clouds
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Fires
A fire detection and management system should have the
following aims:
• A measure of the geographical limits of the fire-front
• An estimate of fire intensity
• Monitoring of burnt area to look for latent fires
• Mapping of burnt areas to aid restoration
(Barducci et al. 2002)
S.E Australian Fires
February 2009
NASA Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
S.E Australian Fires (10th February 2009)
NASA Earth Observatory http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
From the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite
Thermal Infrared (TIR) analysis of scene showing hot anomalies
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Flooding
Floods are easily seen from space - particularly
over very large areas. Sometimes the view of the
ground can be obscured by clouds - not a problem
if the flooding was due to a large storm system
GIS models allow us to estimate the risk of
flooding before it happens. Monitoring by both
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration) and Meteosat helped disaster
mitigation activities in Mozambique during 2001.
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Flooding
A combination of both optical and radar remote sensing can
provide a model for estimating likelihood of floodplain
inundation
(Townsend and Walsh, 1998)
Often, detailed hydrological models are as important as the
remotely sensed data to estimate risk and undertake
effective post-disaster management
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Extreme Weather
Many natural disasters result from extreme weather events
such as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones.
These meteorological phenomena are typically large-scale
and can be seen from space.
Satellites allow us to track these phenomena, determine the
likelihood of them affecting human population and hence
undertake mitigation activities.
The role of remote sensing for support of “geoengineering”
activities for mitigation is discussed by Bauer et al. 1999
Hurricane Hugo in 1989
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Terrorism
Following the assault on the World Trade Center in New
York on September 11th in 2001, the Ikinos and NOAA
satellites were used to obtain detailed images of the site
affected.
Lidar radar sweeps were used to “cut through” dust and
build up a picture beneath
RS data helped inform disaster management crews
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Tsunami
Like coastal flooding, Tsunami events may be modelled
and within a GIS.
Complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) requires
very detailed bathymetric and topographic data retrieved
from remote sensing missions. Earthquakes and landslides
that contribute to tsunami formation can be assessed by
different remote sensing techniques.
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
QuickBird used extensively throughout Asian Tsunami Disaster
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Earthquakes
The aftermath of an earthquake is clearly highly visible
from space using high resolution satellites and aerial
photography
Detailed image analysis can assist ground crews to
locations where electrical pylons, ruptured gas/oil pipes or
urban fires require immediate attention.
(See Wu et al. 2000)
Uses of RS for Disaster Management
Refugee Monitoring
In recent years, the advent of very high spatial resolution
imagery has allowed disaster relief workers to monitor the
movement of refugees both within a country or between
countries. Individual vehicles as well as groups of people
can be tracked and their number assessed. This information
can assist logistics to refugee camps or food aid
distribution efforts.
See:
http://www.eurisy.asso.fr/events/humanitar/proceedings/ppt/WOLFF/
Development of cyclone captured by METEOSAT-5
NEW Disaster Monitoring Constellation: http://www.dmcii.com/
