Geoinformation for Disaster and Risk Management - ISPRS

Introduction
National governments, international organizations and research institutions
worldwide have set to work to improve disaster management in all its phases:
mitigation, preparedness, relief and response, and recovery and reconstruction.
Many governments have put the formation of a hazard-resistant and disastercoping
society on their political agenda as an important factor of sustainable
economic development and better quality of civil life. In this respect, the
awareness of new geospatial technologies and their successful utilization in
disaster management is becoming crucial.
These technologies are emerging very fast. Meteorological and earth observation
satellites, communication satellites and satellite-based navigation and
positioning systems may help to improve prediction and monitoring of potential
hazards, risk mitigation and disaster management, contributing in turn to reduce
losses of life and property. Global navigation satellites and earth observation
satellites have already demonstrated their flexibility in providing data for a
broad range of applications: weather forecasting, vehicle tracking, disaster
alerting, forest fire and flood monitoring, oil spill detection, desertification
monitoring, and crop and forestry damage assessment. Monitoring and
management of recent natural disasters have greatly benefited from satellite
imagery, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, floods (Austria, Romania,
Switzerland, and Germany in 2005), hurricanes (USA in 2005), forest fires
(Portugal, France, Greece, Australia in 2005, 2008), earthquakes (Pakistan in
2005, Indonesia in 2006, Haiti 2010), etc.
The use and exchange of geospatial information in disaster situations is
facilitated, on national and international levels, by initiatives and programmes
on harmonisation of geospatial data and building of spatial data infrastructures,
such as GMES and INSPIRE in Europe, the United Nations Geographic
Information Working Group (UNGIWG), Homeland Security and Digital Earth.
Sensors and in situ data have been increasingly integrated for early warning and
hazard monitoring. Systems maintaining geospatial information are becoming
more elaborate and multi- functional than ever before. Many of these systems
can meet requirements for early warning and real-time response, and provide
suitable models for elaborated predictions, simulations and visualizations.
However, the knowledge about the full range of the application potential of
geospatial technologies is the domain of specialists in the geosciences.
Therefore, the Ad-Hoc Group on Risk and Disaster Management was formed in
2008, with Orhan Altan as chairman, within the Joint Board of Geospatial
Information Societies. It is the goal of the Ad-Hoc Group to create and foster
knowledge transfer between international geo-science bodies working on
disaster and risk management with different technological backgrounds, and to
ensure political support for the utilization and development of geo-technologies
in this field.
In fulfilment of its mission the Ad-Hoc Group initiated this publication in order
to highlight geospatial technology which has been successfully used in recent
disasters. It is a major goal of the book to make disaster managers and political
decision-makers aware of the potential and benefits of using geospatial
information in every phase of disaster and risk management.
The project started in January 2009 with an open call for contributions
describing best practices and experiences. To coordinate the preparation of the
booklet the Ad-Hoc Group appointed a working committee as follows: Orhan
Altan, Piero Boccardo, Sisi Zlatanova (all ISPRS) and Robert Backhaus
(UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER) Committee meetings were held in Prague, Zurich, Milan,
Istanbul, Delft, Turin and Haifa to discuss the submitted abstracts and papers
and to give guidance to the contributors. Only technology in action was
considered. The papers had to be written for a wide-spread audience, with a
minimum of technical detail. The booklet should demonstrate that geoinformation
and satellite technology is used to manage disasters in all parts of
the world and helped in various responce and recovery operations.
With regard to these goals 16 contributions were selected. The geographical
distribution is shown in the figure below. Disasters in China, Germany, Greece,
Haiti, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, the Philippines, Sudan, and the USA are
analyzed in detail. Some of the most devastating natural disasters such as the
South Asia tsunami and the Haiti Earthquake, as well as humanitarian crisis
situations such as the Sudan refugee camps reveal the international efforts in
providing maps and satellite imagery.
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