Geoinformation for Disaster and Risk Management - ISPRS

Activities of the ISPRS WG VIII/1 - Disaster
Management
This working group was formed to investigate, from
a scientific and technical point of view, the role of
remote sensing in managing the consequences of
natural and man-made disasters and aims at
informing and activating people involved in disaster
monitoring, mitigation and damage assessment from
both from public institutions and private companies.
The main goals are:
1. The development of appropriate tools and
methodologies for disaster management using
remote sensing connected to GIS technologies;
2. In collaboration with Commission I, define an
integrated system of observation comprising
space, aerial, and in-situ measurements for
disaster early warning, monitoring, damage
assessment, and mitigation;
3. To enhance the cooperation with various partners
such as CEOS, the International Global Observing
Strategy (IGOS), UN Agencies and all
Private/Institutional Organizations involved in
the Disaster Management cycle..
The focus is on: generation of vulnerability and
hazard zone maps for different types of disasters,
such as forest fires, cyclones, floods, drought,
volcano eruptions, earthquakes, landslides etc.;
identification and assessment of potential risk zones;
integration of remotely sensed observations and
communication strategies with enhanced predictive
modeling capabilities for disaster detection, early
warning, monitoring, and damage assessment;
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development of disaster management plans for pre-,
during and post-disaster situations and enhanced
support for early warning systems, emergency
events mitigation and decision making; collaborating
with International Associations when appropriate.
This emergency represents a milestone for the whole
scientific community, individual volunteer groups, as
well as the key players in the major satellite
providers and internet geo-providers (Google and
Microsoft) who have contributed an enormous
amount and variety of data towards this emergency
response. Now, it is time to develop solutions for
effective processing, analysis and application of the
spatial data, taking into account the lesson learnt
from the latest experiences.
Currently, tremendous efforts are being
made by the international community to
respond to and assist people affected
by the earthquake in Haiti.
Figure 4-5:
Above: Port-au-Prince affected areas
Left: Port-au-Prince road damage
assessment map