[UN SPIDER] ISRSE-33 side event: Space-based Information for Reducing Loss From Disasters

[David STEVENS]

Dear UN-SPIDER Colleagues,

We would like to inform you about a side-event we are organizing jointly
with GEO and DLR-ZKI. We would welcome your participation, should you be
attending ISRSE-33. The room size might not allow more than 40
participants, so we would encourage early expressions of interest as
possible. More information on ISRSE can be found at

http://isrse-33.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

David Stevens
UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER

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Space-based information for reducing loss from disasters

Side-Event at ISRSE, Stresa, Italy

Organized by GEO, UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER and DLR-ZKI

Tuesday, 5 May 2009
14.00 -16.00 h
Room: Atlantic 2

Space-based information, which includes earth observation data, is
increasingly becoming an integral part of disaster management. We have been
relying for decades on data obtained from meteorological satellites for
updates on the weather and to monitor weather-related natural disasters
such as hurricanes.  Satellite-based technologies have experienced
impressive growth in recent years with an increase in the number of
available sensors, an increase in spatial, temporal and spectral
resolutions, an increase in the availability of radar satellites such as
Terrasar-X and ALOS, and the launching of specific constellations such as
the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of
small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) and RapidEye.

Even more recent are the initiatives being set-up to ensure that
space-based information is being accessed and used by decision makers, such
as Sentinel Asia for the Asia and Pacific region and SERVIR for the Latin
America and Caribbean region.

Although there has been this increase in the volume of space-based
information to support response activities for natural and technological
disasters there is still a need to establish mechanisms that guarantee that
such information is accessible in usable formats, in a timely fashion, and
used by all end users and emergency-response teams in particular.

Two proposals being jointly developed will contribute to ensuring that such
space-based information is accessible to all. The first is the proposed
“Disaster Management Clearinghouse” that when implemented will provide a
coordinated information service to disaster-response teams and which will
build on existing efforts and will be delivered via the Global Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The Clearinghouse would be
accessible via the GEO Portal as well as via other appropriate community
portals, and it would be searchable on-line through key-word searches
(thematic, by GLIDE identification number, etc). The second initiative is
the UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal which is being set up as a web-based tool
for information, communication and process support. This portal is being
developed as part of the UN-SPIDER Programme (United Nations Platform for
Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response)

The long term vision is that everyone in the world should have access to
disaster information during all phases of disaster management in order to
(1) reduce losses from disasters; (2) assure prompt assistance to victims;
and (3) achieve a rapid and effective recovery.

A structured approach and a formal network is needed to efficiently
collect, synthesize and integrate observations and derived maps from a
variety of sources and providers and to make it available to communities in
high-risk areas, civil-protection agencies, decision makers, rescue teams,
and the wider public at the global, regional and local levels.

The Disaster Management Clearinghouse aims to become a source of
information for disaster management providing integrated and interoperable
observations, derived maps for: Vulnerability/Risk assessment; Crisis
Management; Related Forecasts (i.e. weather, population migration, fire
risk etc). Both initiatives, The Disaster Management Clearinghouse and the
UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal, will be further discussed at this inter-agency
side-event. Steps for implementation and challenges will also be discussed.

Please contact Veronica Grasso (GEO at vgrasso at geosec.org) and Lorant
Czaran (UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER at  lorant.Czaran at unoosa.org) to indicate your
interest in attending.