Microsoft Word - ISDR Report Space for DRR 21st Sept _added adrc report 2

Biennial HFA Progress Review 2007-2009

Space Technology Applications for Disaster Risk Reduction

Prepared by

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)

Introduction

Effectiveness of disaster risk reduction relies greatly on the effectiveness and efficiency

of collection, process, analysis and utilization of related information. Space technology

offers many capabilities for disaster risk reduction for decision-makers at all levels,

from top-level governmental and international officials, to local communities, even to

individual family members.

Although someone may still think space technology a combination of expensive

advanced technologies that are not accessible and affordable to most developing

countries, their rapid development and broad applications have make their applications

and services more accessible and affordable to many least developed countries.

Satellite-based information and communications tools have become critical in providing

socio-economic benefits for communities and individuals, including poverty and risk

reduction from potentially tragic consequences of disasters. Supported by other

information and communication technologies, particularly geographic information

systems (GIS) based information handling and decision making tools, space information

have been widely used by most countries in the world for almost all disaster

management stages, from disaster risk assessment and zonation, mitigation and

response planning, monitoring and early warning, emergency response, damage

estimation, to rehabilitation and reconstruction planning.

Space technology may contribute to disaster risk reduction in following major fields:

Earth observation (EO) satellites may provide imagery of the Earth's surface

taken in visible, infrared and microwave parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

With different spatial resolution from sub-meter to hundred meters and re-visit

interval from hours to days, they are widely used for disaster risk assessment

and planning, early warning, monitoring, mitigation, response and recovery.

Such applications in many countries (including in some developing countries)

have been operationalized. But for most developing countries, they remain at

experimental or pilot stages. While some EO satellites are operated fully on

commercial bases, a lot of such satellites are operated by government bodies.

Meteorological satellites are a specialized category of EO satellites, and are a

major source of information for daily weather forecasts, particularly in warning

about tropical cyclones, tornadoes, severe storms, drought and extreme

temperatures. Their global coverage and consistency make them ideal for

monitoring the global climate, including regular events such as El Niño and

longer-term phenomena like global climate change. Under the framework of the

World Meteorological Organization – as well as through fraternal relationships

among that bond many national meteorological and EO agencies, such satellites

are operated by some government bodies as contribution to the world disaster

reduction efforts. Most of their data are broadcasted from the satellites for free

reception, and some data are also on-line accessible for countries having not

direct receiving capacities.

There are many other global environment study oriented EO satellites that may

also provide useful information for disaster reduction related researches, such as

microwave sounders and sensors for global monitoring and forecasting

precipitation, and sea surface height. Experimental satellite was proposed for

detecting the changes in Earth electro-magnetic field that may be closely related

to tectonic earthquakes – although in physical terms this still remains a

challenge.

Satellite communications (satcom) can support globally universal provisions of

satellite telephone, Internet, and broadcasting services which can deliver vital

data and warning message for disaster managers. Satcom may provide backup

redundancy to replace failed terrestrial infrastructure destroyed by major

disasters, and may be the primary or only means of communications support

during rescue and relief actions in some disaster hit areas. Satcom is also

highly scalable (in terms of ground connectivity) and rapidly deployable to

impacted areas – providing urgent adaptation to the post-disaster increase in

needs for communications. Users can range from top governmental officials to

communities and individuals. While most such services are provided by

international/regional commercial operators, there are also many countries have

their own national satellites for both commercial and government subsided

services and applications. Some EO satellites equipped data collection platforms

are playing important role in relaying ground observed hydrological and

meteorological data to relevant data/information centers.

In addition to provide positioning and navigating supports to field rescue and

relief teams during major disasters, satellite-based positioning technology has

also been widely used to monitor the movement of Earth crust plates at a

precision of centimeter even millimeter level, that assists recognize risk areas to

volcano earthquake and tectonic earthquake.

Space technology, even within the limited extent of operationalization especially in

developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region, has demonstrated operationally a

variety of critical applications in risk assessment, monitoring and early warning,

impact mapping, mitigation planning and monitoring, and emergency

communication. The near real-time ability of EO satellites to capture natural disaster

information and to gather information on the terrain, geophysical and weather-

related factors pertaining to vulnerability and risk makes it a powerful and

indispensable tool for production of knowledge products. It is also a powerful tool

for the enrichment of the knowledge base that a country should have to manage its

efforts towards natural disaster reduction. In practical terms, however, in some

instances a mismatch remains between the potential and existing capability of these

technologies, on the one hand, and the less developed institutional, policy and

technological frameworks in developing countries of the region, on the other. The

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, while highlighting the increasing

vulnerability of the region, indicated the growing trend towards weather and

geological disasters. It is important that large-scale operationalization of space

technology in risk assessment and disaster reduction be promoted.

Operationally demonstrated role of space

technology in disaster reduction

Early detection of events/ related

parameters; and dissemination

Early detection of events/ related

parameters; and dissemination

Info on terrain, hydrologic, climatic

Socio-economic and ecological

Aspects of community vulnerability

Info on terrain, hydrologic, climatic

Socio-economic and ecological

Aspects of community vulnerability

Pre and post event change detection

Identification of damages..

Pre and post event change detection

Identification of damages..

Creation of vulnerability info for

developmental planning,

reconstruction

Creation of vulnerability info for

developmental planning,

reconstruction

Satellite radio, broadcasting,

HAM radio, VSAT,

WLL-VSAT, Satphone, DCP

Satellite radio, broadcasting,

HAM radio, VSAT,

WLL-VSAT, Satphone, DCP

Early warning

Risk information

Preparedness

Emergency

communication

Emergency

communication

Impact assessment

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• Considerable investment made globally in space technology and

applications

• Enhanced operational outreach in the newer paradigms of risk reduction

This report focuses mainly on the progress in space technology resources applicable for

disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region, and the progress in institutionalization

of regional cooperation in recent years.

Trends in country progress

Earth observation satellite resources

Many space capable countries in the Asia-Pacific region have launched many kinds of

Earth observation satellites, and most of them are used for disaster risk reduction.

Geostationary meteorological satellites that are currently serve the Asia-Pacific

countries are operated by China (FY-2C, -2D), India (INSAT-3A), Japan (MTSAT-1R

and -2), Russian Federation (GOMS-N, in stand-by status), USA (GOES-11), and

European EUMETSAT (Meteosat-6 and -7)

. These work-horses typically produce

Mainly based on information from http://www.wmo.ch/pages/prog/sat/GOSgeo.html

hourly or half-hourly images of about one third of the Earth under their orbit locations.

They are used to support numerical weather forecast modeling. Although each

country’s system is somewhat different, the systems are also used for integrated global

assessments and forecasting. Recent development in this category in the region

includes:

China’s launch of FY-2D on 8 December 2006 that may work with FY-2C in a

dual-satellite mode to provide intensifies observation capacity in every 15 minutes

during flood period and major events such as Olympic Games 2008.

Japan launched a new generation of geostationary meteorological satellites of

MTSAT in February 2005 by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Republic of Korea has a plan to launch COMS in 2009 to join the geostationary

meteorological satellite fleet.

Operational civilian sun-synchronous meteorological satellites, which provide

worldwide coverage of cloud images and other atmospheric information twice a day as

initial data for numerical forecasting, are operated by China (FY-1D, -3A), USA

(NOAA-17, -18), and European EUMETSAT (METOP-A). Such satellite data are also

used for monitoring renewable resources and drought disasters, and are playing the key

role for weather forecasts over areas at high latitudes where geostationary

meteorological satellites can not cover effectively. Recent development in the Asia-

pacific region in this catalog is the launch of a new generation polar-orbit

meteorological satellite FY-3A on 27 May 2008 by China.

As contribution of the countries and intergovernmental organizations that operating

meteorological satellites to the global disaster risk reduction efforts, most data gathered

by meteorological satellites are broadcasted for free access by any country with

receiving facilities. Some such data are also available on-line for free access by users

having not such receiving capacities. Most countries, including some least developed

countries, in the Asia-Pacific region have established capacity for receiving data from

meteorological satellites and MODIS data of US Earth Observation System satellites,

which are broadcasted for free reception as well. Considering the huge demand of many

local users for such information and relevant products and to avoid duplication in

building such receiving and procession facilities, China is using communication satellite

to broadcast such received data and some kinds of value-added products to thousands

users, including some in its neighboring countries with receiving facilities granted by

China.

There are tens of other EO satellites, generally called remote sensing satellites, working

today in the low earth orbit for environment and resources management and disaster

reduction purposes. Among them, many were launched by Asia-Pacific countries.

China launched the CBERS-2 (launched 21 Oct. 2003) and CBERS-2B (10 Jan.

2007), which were jointly developed with Brazil, and also operates the ocean

satellites

HY-1B (11 April 2007)

and a small satellite Beijing-1 (27 Oct. 2005),

which is a member of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) promoted

and operated by Surry Satellite Technology Ltd. To better meet the timeliness

requirement of monitoring and early warning major disasters and to ensure the

observation over cloud-covered areas, China proposed and is developing an

environment and disaster monitoring constellation comprising of 4 optical and 4-

radar satellites. Towards its first phase, 2 optical satellites were launched on 5

September 2008, and 1 radar satellite will be launched in 2009. China expressed

its intention to cooperate with other countries for full deployment of the

constellation and for its long-term services over the world.

Indian IRS series operated since 1980s is the largest remote sensing satellite

constellation for civilian use in operation today in the world: IRS-1D (launched

29 Sept 1997), OCEANSAT-1 (IRS P-4, launched 27 May 1999), Technology

Experiment Satellite (TES, 22 October 2001), RESOURCESAT-1 (IRS-P6, 17

Oct. 2007), CARTOSAT-1 (IRS P-5, 5 May 2005), CARTOSAT-2 (IRS P-7, 10

Jan. 2007), CARTOSAT-2A (28 April 2008) and IMS-1 (28 April 2008).

All

these are placed in polar sun-synchronous orbit and provide data in a variety of

spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions to enable a variety of applications,

including for disaster management.

Japan launched its Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) on 24 Jan. 2006,

and plans to develop a disaster management dedicated satellite in coming years.

Republic of Korea launched KOMPSAT-2 in 2006, and plans to launch

KOMPSAT-3 and -5 in 2010 and 2011, and a satellite for ocean and

meteorological services in 2009.

The Russian Federation is operating

Monitor-E and Resurs-DK

satellites, and is

developing its next-generation remote sensing satellites.

Thailand will launch its Earth observation satellites THEOS in 2008 or 2009,

depending on launching arrangement with relevant countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Remote_Sensing_satellite

Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, such as China (including Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region and Taiwan province), India, Malaysia, Japan, Russia,

Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, have established operational systems to receive and

process data from remote sensing satellites. These receiving stations are mostly operated

by governmental and academic bodies. The Republic of Korea is to operate its receiving

station in 2009.

All these countries expressed their intention in providing their satellite information to

the countries in the region for disaster risk reduction, and agreed to develop a regional

platform under the United Nations to share the information harmonically.

There are also many remote sensing satellites, such as ENVISAT, LANDSAT, SPOT,

RADARSAT, IKNOS and QUICKBIRD, commercially available to serve most

countries in the world. Many commercial data distribution networks for different kinds

of remote sensing satellites of both public and private ones are active in the region for

countries without, or with limited, receiving capacities to access relevant satellite

services. These satellite data are also widely used by the regional countries in disaster

management.

Major issues related to operational use of space information for disaster management

Effective access and utilization of space information for disaster management involves

many technical sectors and components, and it also involves issues related to policy

frameworks, institutional arrangement and capacity building: 1) upon requests of the

users of disaster managers, satellite operators will plan the satellites to acquire the

information and transmit them to the ground stations in the shortest time; 2) the

received data will be timely processed by the operators or information providers into

standardized, sometimes value-added, products, and delivered to the technical support

teams of the disaster hit countries; 3) local technical service providers will further

analyze received space information with locally available information and local disaster

management practices and produce proper products and services for disaster managers’

decision making.

Timely information products and services is crucial for understanding the situation of

the disaster impacts and to organize effective and efficient mitigation and rescue/relief

actions to save the lives and reduce the property losses. Timeliness equals to the

significance that space information is expected to contribute. Timely provision of

remote sensing satellite information depends on many factors:

Availability of satellite resources. Each EO satellite has its own mission

objectives, which defined the characters of its orbit and onboard remote sensors.

For example, optical remote sensors can not get the information of cloud

covered areas, but radar sensors can. These characters determine how quick a

satellite may fly over the target area to acquire the information, and how

frequently it may re-visit the same area – it may take 3 to 15 days for remote

sensing satellites. Large number of satellites may complement and supplement

each other, and to improve the timeliness substantively in information

acquisition. In this connection, international cooperation to share all available

satellite resources is crucial. From such cooperation, all contributory countries

are as well the beneficiaries since they also need the information from other

satellites.

Receiving capacity. Satellite data need to be transmitted to a ground receiving

station that should be within a direct-viewing distance (2000-2500 km) to the

satellite. When the data storage capacity of a satellite is not strong enough, such

transmission should be made during the satellite is acquiring the ground

information. Though the progress in on-board data storage has reduced the

limitation, cooperation among satellite receiving facilities is still a key element

to improve the timeliness. While many commercial satellite operators have

established receiving network over the world, and China, India and Japan are

making efforts to build new receiving facilities, and to reach receiving

agreements with existing receiving stations outside their countries.

Delivery means. Delivery of satellite information, which is received and

processed by satellite operators, to service providers of the disaster impacted

countries is realized through broadband Internet currently. However, many

developing countries, especially least developed countries can not ensure enough

bandwidth to make the delivery efficient, particularly in the situation that the

information remains in its original format with large volume. Delivery of value-

added products may greatly reduce the volume and release the bandwidth

limitation. Japan’s space agency plans to use its experimental communication

satellite to provide broadband connection between the information service center

and some local users that can not access to necessary bandwidth.

Processing capacity. Technical capacities and institutional arrangements in many

countries are not sufficient for a timely provision of proper products and services

from technical support teams to disaster management authorities. Most small

economies have not the financial and technical ability, and may have not the

necessity, to develop a fully equipped technical system. It’s more practical for

them to develop a minimum capacity to focus on the final tasks that could be

done only locally, with some kinds of value-added space information products

provided by information providers through well institutionalized cooperation

mechanisms.

Cost of commercial satellites’ data is always a big obstacle for less developed countries’

operational use of space information for disaster management. For most Asian countries

that operating government invested remote sensing satellites, the governments assess

the success of their satellite programmes mainly by evaluating their contributions to

assisting address their major national concerns, in such fields like disaster, environment

and natural resources management, national spatial information infrastructure, and

development planning. While the governments do not expect to recoup their investment

through sales of satellite data, the cost for national institutions’ access to relevant

satellite information are kept quite low, or almost free of charge. In addition to seve

their national needs, China, India and Japan also offered to share their space information

resources with other countries, particularly in the field of disaster risk reduction, and

have been implementing relevant initiatives to made related arrangements. The

Republic of Korea and Thailand also expressed their intention to support such initiatives

with their future satellites.

Most developing countries, particularly least developed countries, have not the capacity

to establish and maintain stable and effective data request and delivery channels with

various satellites information sources, and when the data policy of these non-

commercial satellites are not clear, their requirements for remote sensing information

rely mainly on available commercial satellites, via commercial data distribution

networks. Operational access to non-commercial satellites data for disaster management

depends on national high-level commitments of both contributory and beneficiary

countries, and the availability of long-term operational cooperation arrangements at

policy, institutional and technical aspects. Actually, all the contributory countries are

beneficiary ones as well, since there is not any one country may say that it does not

needs the information source of other satellites.

Current remote sensing satellites are launched for different purposes, with different

technical specifications and data formats. Though relevant satellite owner countries

have developed their application methodologies and product models, most space

information service providers supporting disaster management, particular those of least

developed countries, lack the capacity to deal with so large a verity of data characters

from different information sources, and process them into proper products and services

for disaster management decision making. When meaningful uses of satellite

information should be supported by other locally available information and databases,

such as disaster management information systems, it is not possible for outside satellite

operators to provide such products and services to meet the requirements of disaster

managers of different countries. The governments must have their technical support

teams, which could be either some technical team inside the disaster management

authorities or contracted local service providers, which may access to local information

and local disaster management practices and produce end user needed decision making

support products and services. It is the responsibility for the governments to establish

institutional arrangements between local services providers and disaster managers, and

to establish appropriate technical capacities.

It may not be practical to request the governments to establish fully equipped facilities

and technical capacity to deal with different satellite data directly and to produce

relevant products and services for their end-users, though a few countries can do so.

One solution is to encourage the information providers to develop, based on their

knowledge on their satellites, some kinds of value-added interim products for the local

service providers, for their easy incorporating local information and practices to timely

provide needed decision-supporting products and services.

Disaster management information systems are the mostly needed information maneuver

platforms to accommodate and integrate all relevant information, including

topographical, meteorological, hydrological, geological, demographical, economic,

social information, and historical records and knowledge bases related to local disasters.

On such information platform, comprehensive and effective decision supporting tools

for disaster management could be developed, and space information could be used as a

major input towards their effectiveness and efficiency. Satellite remote sensing may

contribute to the establishment and periodic updates of the information systems, and

inversely such information systems provide crucial supports to effective process and use

of satellite information for disaster management. Most Asia-Pacific countries have

established their disaster management information systems at different levels, though at

different stages in different countries.

Applications of space information have demonstrated their great contribution to the

success and timeliness of the emergency responses to the catastrophic earthquake that

occurred on 12 May 2008 with epicenter in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province of China. The

Richet-8.0 earthquake had affected an area about 100,000 Km

. There were near 89,000

dead or missing, more than 374,000 injured, 15 million displaced, and 46 million

affected. More than 11 million square meter building totally collapsed. To understand

the disaster situation in such large area and to provide concrete dynamic information to

support relevant mitigation and relief actions, satellite information are indispensible.

Within 2 hours after the quake, the National Disaster Reduction Center of China

(NDRCC) produced the first map based on archived satellite image and other

information within its national disaster reduction information database. The map

indicated the epicenter of the earthquake and basic information about surrounding areas,

such as the distribution of villages and population, and was presented to the highest

decision-makers for response planning. Thereafter, at all high-level decision-making

occasions, more than 120 satellite derived monitoring and assessment reports and

thematic maps, including identification of most severe disaster affected areas, situation

of ruined roads, bridges and their restoring progress, risk assessment of secondary

geological hazards, and monitoring of dangerous quake-lakes, were widely referred as

concrete evidences for relevant decision-making and planning, and also used to support

some key field actions. To produce such information, around 1300 satellite images

acquired by 23 satellites were used. Among them, 290 scenes were provided by 17

foreign satellites, including 120 through the channel of the International Charter on

Space and Major Disasters, which was responded by major space agencies like

European Space Agency, Indian Space Research Organization, Japan Aerospace

Exploration Agency, and US Geology Survey.

When the Wenchuan earthquake has demonstrated the value of space information in

supporting emergency response, the more significant contributions of satellite

information to disaster risk reduction are their potential in supporting pre-disaster

preparedness, in such fields of risk assessment and zonation, mitigation and response

planning, monitoring and early warning. When meteorological satellites have been

operationally used for monitoring and early warning extremely weather events over the

world, many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have use other space information to

cope with other disasters. China and India have been using space information for

agriculture drought monitoring and early warning for many years, and they expressed

strong intention to share their relevant technology and experience with other countries

through enhanced regional cooperation, including exploring the possibility to extend

their national services to other requested countries.

China is cooperating with some countries like Canada, France and USA in developing

space information-based technical models to track the changes of migration routes of

major avian flue virus carrying migrating birds, through analyzing relevant ecological

and agricultural factors derived from space information, and since indicating the risky

areas exposure to such cross-boundary disease, which threatened many Asia-pacific

countries in last years.

Nevertheless many countries in the Asia-Pacific region have operationally used space

information in their disaster management practices, many successful technical and

institutional models and experiments have been accumulated, most developing

countries’ operational utilization of such powerful technical tools relies heavily on the

establishment of well institutionalized regional cooperation. To make such technical

tools accessible, affordable and practically useful, above discussed issues should be

addressed at policy, institutional and technical levels through effective regional

cooperative mechanisms. It is notable that substantive progress towards this objective

has been achieved, thanks to the efforts made by all space faring countries in the region.

Communication satellite resources

Many communication satellites covering the Asia-Pacific region are being used to

support disaster management related communication needs, providing voice, Internet,

conference services during emergency, in addition to TV and broadcasting services that

may bring the disaster warning to the public. When most communication satellites are

used for traditional TV transmission, voice and data services, new satellites are built for

broadband Internet and satellite mobile services.

Most communication satellites are operated commercially. While most communication

satellites are operated for international or regional market, some are mainly or

absolutely for domestic services by national entities. Several Asian-Pacific countries

operate communications satellites, which may be essential components of disaster

communications prior to, and in response to, disasters.

Indonesia is the first developing country to have its own communications

satellites, and has operated the Palapa system since the 1970s. Developed mostly

around workhorse (modest bandwidth but best-available reliability in rain storms)

C-band technology. It is also introducing broadband Ku-band Palapa D series,

expected to be launched in 2009.

India first experimented with space-based communications in 1975, then with its

own systems in 1982, and began full operations with INSAT 1B in 1984.

Today, the INSAT series represents the largest system in Asia, with 199

transponders in C and Ku bands. The INSAT platform also carries India’s

geostationary meteorological payloads, in a special configuration that is to be

imitated by the Republic of Korea by launching its COMS in 2009.

China first launched an experimental communications satellite in 1984, and

began full-time commercial satellite operations two years later. Two Chinese

companies are operating 5 domestic satellites, and tens of transponders are

provided by other regional satellite operators. The Chinese satellite

communications industry has advanced to the point that it designed, constructed

and launched a communication satellite as a package for Nigerian in 2007, and is

doing the similar business with Venezuela.

Optus, an Australian communications company currently a subsidiary of

Singapore’s Singapore Telecommunications, first operated communications

satellites in 1985. Currently the operating Optus satellites offer a suite of C and

Ku-band transponders.

Two Japanese communications satellite companies have been operating satellites

since the late 1980s, having launched and operated about 20 satellites since then.

In August 2008, Japan launched its first completely home-grown commercial

communications satellite.

Thailand’s communications satellite company, Thaicom, began services with

Thaicom 1 in 1993. Currently, the company offers C and Ku-band services, as

well as pioneering (in the region) Internet Protocol broadband services to most

of Asia and the western Pacific on its IPSTAR satellite.

Turkey has operated communications satellites since Turksat 1B and 1A, in 1994.

Currently, with Turksat 1C added to the constellation, this series offers C and

Ku-band services.

Malaysia started national satellite communications with Measat 1 in 1996. The

current Measat 3, launched in 2006, provides C and Ku-band transponders.

The Philippines has operated communications satellites since Agila 2, operated

by Mabuhay Satellite since 1997 with C and Ku-band services.

Singapore Telecommunications also operates the ST-1 satellite, launched in 1998,

in partnership with Chunghwa Telecom located in Taipei, China. This satellite

carries C and Ku-band transponders.

With the launch of its first communications satellite in April 2008, Vietnam has

joined the Asian-Pacific community of satellite operators. Vinasat 1 has 12 Ku

and 8 C-band transponders.

Most countries in the Asia-Pacific region are users of international communication

satellite operators, such as Intelsat, APT Satellite and AsiaSat. In addition, satellite

mobile phone operators INMARSAT, Iridium, Globalstar and Thuraya offer coverage to

most (in some cases to all) of Asia and the Pacific. These mobile systems can be keys

for readily available deployable capacity to support disaster emergency responses.

Such phones need no ground infrastructure, can be solar-charged thus operable away

from the electricity grid or generators, and some may be used for accessing low to

medium speed Internet services. New models of satellite mobile handsets may also

access to both satellite mobile and local cellular mobile services.

It is worth noting that Japan recently launched the experimental Wideband

InterNetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS), and offered its

capacity for experimental transmission of remote sensing satellite information to some

users difficult to access enough bandwidth for disaster management.

The practice in response to Wenchuan earthquake of China demonstrated the importance

of satellite communications in support emergency disaster responses. When the

earthquake made a direct loss more than 1 billion US Dollars in telecommunications

facilities, and made all communication facilities interrupted for more than 30 hours in 8

mostly damaged counties, the only means to establish telecommunication linkages

among headquarters and action teams was satcom. 133 emergency telecommunication

vehicles were deployed, and most of them were equipped with satcom facilities though

they could not reach most seriously hit areas due to the damages to road systems. More

than 2,300 satellite mobile handsets were used through three major satellite mobile

service providers. 1394 satellite IDR and VSAT terminals were deployed to support

service restoration of cellar phones and broadband Internet, and to provide connection

to various private networks, teleconferences and medical services.

Trends in Global Progress

The rapid development of space technology and its successful applications for disaster

risk reduction at national levels around the world has stimulated the desires of space

faring countries to better serve the world through international and regional cooperation.

Many international and regional initiatives were under implementation to assist all

countries’ easier and affordable access to relevant space technical and information

resources for effective disaster management.

The implementation of the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, which is

a cooperative efforts of major space agencies of the world, and the operation of the

UNOSAT to complement the Charter, have delivered invaluable satellite information, in

some recent cases value-added products, for monitoring disasters and their impacts – to

quickly guide response and recovery. This good example has stimulated broader in-

depth cooperation carrying out by many other initiatives, involving not only space

agencies.

Several components of the United Nations system treat disaster risk reduction by using

space technology based tools. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

is in charge of coordinating UN-related responses to disasters. Funds and programmes

such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (agricultural hazard monitoring and

support for rural agro-populations), International Telecommunication Union

(telecommunications), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (which runs

UNOSAT - coordinated with the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters to

obtain and deliver space-derived data and information supporting disaster response),

World Health Organization (health-related disaster risk reduction and response), World

Meteorological Organization (weather, climate, and related disaster forecasting), and

World Food Programme (famine response) play specialized roles. The Tampere

Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for Disaster Mitigation

and Relief Operations, managed by OCHA and ITU, is intended to facilitate the

international deployment of disaster response telecommunications facilities to help

disaster-struck communities/countries.

In end 2006, the United Nations Assembly adopted the resolution 61/110 that initiated

the programme of United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster

Management and Emergency Response (UN SPIDER), to assist its member States to

equally access to space based technical tools. Under this programme, the United

Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) would set up a programme office in

Vienna, and two offices in Bonn and Beijing for organizing relevant activities. It was

agreed that the Asia-Pacific regional component of the UN SPIDER will be jointly

developed by OOSA and ESCAP. Under this cooperation, ESCAP and OOSA have co-

organized two activities: the UN/China Regional UN-SPIDER Workshop, 3-5

December 2007, Shenzhen, China, jointly with the China National Space

Administration; and the United Nations Regional UN-SPIDER Workshop: Building

Upon Regional Space-based Solutions for Disaster Management and emergency

Response for the Pacific Region, 16-19 September 2008, Suva, Fiji, Jointly with the

South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). In the coming years,

ESCAP’s efforts in development of regional cooperative mechanisms on use of space

technology for disaster management will contribute to the establishment and operation

of the global UN SPIDER platform with its effective Asia-Pacific component.

ESCAP and OOSA also jointly organized a Regional Expert Meeting on Using Space

Technology for Avian Influenza Monitoring and Early Warning in Asia, 1-3 August

2007, Bangkok, Thailand. The Expert Meeting agreed to establish a working group to

further develop operational models for avian influenza monitoring and early warning by

use of remote sensing and GIS technologies, and to develop a network mechanism of

national avian influenza control authorities and technical supporting institutions for

provision of in situ information, including historical ones, for support the development

of such technical tools and for its future operation, as a technical basis for establishment

and service of an information system for avian influenza in the global/regional/sub-

regional levels. The participants form WHO and FAO expressed their supports to this

effort by provision of their relevant data and information. ESCAP will work with OOSA

to support the work of the working group and the network for the coming years.

In cooperation with OOSA, ESCAP hosted the 4

UN-Wide Meeting on the Use of

Space Technologies for Emergency Response and Humanitarian Assistance in Bangkok

on 27 November 2007. This meeting was held back-to-back with the Eighth United

nations Geographic Information Working Group Plenary Meeting which was organized

by OCHA as chairs of the working group and UNHCR and co-sponsored by ESCAP in

Bangkok on 28-30 November 2007.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in its efforts promoting disaster

management communications, has established partnership with ESCAP in the Asia-

Pacific region, and jointly organized the ITU/ESCAP Joint Regional Workshop on

Disaster Communications, 12-15 December 2006, Bangkok, Thailand. ESCAP will

continue its cooperation with ITU to further promote regional cooperation in the

important technical supporting field, with its expertise in satellite communication

applications, and its connection with national disaster management authorities, and to

explore the feasibility of establishing institutionalized regional cooperative mechanisms

to provide stranger technical support to their member States in the Asia-Pacific region.

Trends in Regional Progress

ESCAP

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

(ESCAP) has worked for several decades to help Asia and the Pacific to prepare for, and

respond to, disasters of various types. It has contributed to the creation of the Mekong

River Commission, the Typhoon Committee and the Panel on Tropical Cyclones (the

latter two co-convened with the WMO), and during this decade has promoted the

formation of regional cooperation mechanisms in use of space technology for disaster

management.

There are many regional initiatives promoting regional cooperation in using space

technology for disaster management, and all of them expressed strong intention to

develop a harmonized regional platform with under the United Nations for the

countries’ easier access and affordable use of these space technology based tools for

more effective disaster management.

ESCAP’s Space Applications Programme for Sustainable Development for Asia the

Pacific (RESAP) has been placing emphasis on increased contributions of space

technology applications, including GIS technology, for sustainable development and

improved quality of life in Asia and the Pacific, and disaster management has been one

of its priorities. It does this through policy research and advocation, capacity building

at policy, institutional and technical levels, covering the fields of Earth observation and

satellite communications. This mandate was given by the first and second Ministerial

Conferences on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the

Pacific, held in Beijing and New Delhi in 1994 and 1999 respectively, and the sessions

of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

As recommended by its resolution 64/1 in May 2008, ESCAP restructured its secretariat

and established the Information and Communication Technology and Disaster Risk

Reduction Division, the RESAP is since implemented under the newly created Division,

with disaster risk reduction as its focus. The mandates of the Division include:

Policy options and strategies on multi-hazard disaster risk reduction and

mitigation;

Regional cooperation mechanisms for disaster risk management, including space

and other technical support systems;

Multi-hazard assessment, preparedness, early warning and response to disaster

risks;

Information and communication technology applications for disaster risk

reduction.

ESCAP also established a joint task force with the Asia-Pacific Office of the

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) for a cooperative and coordinated

approach to serve the Asia-Pacific region in affairs related to disaster risk reduction.

Space technology applications for disaster management are addressed by ESCAP in

both sectoral and multi-sectoral approaches. In addition to major contributory fields of

Earth observation and satellite communications, the issue of disaster management is as

well addressed through the applications of space-based distance education, tele-health

and empowerment of people through community e-centers.

Since 2002 a series of activities have been organized by the ESCAP secretariat on the

use of space technology for disaster management. These are part of ESCAP’s goal of

helping to prepare the region for pursuing the development of improved regional

cooperative mechanisms for disaster management, incorporating (but not constrained to)

space technology. With substantial financial support of France, Japan, the Republic of

Korea, and in-kind contribution of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and

Thailand, these activities discussed broad technical, institutional and policy issues

related to the operational use of space-based information in effective disaster

management practice. Through the studies on policy framework for regional

cooperative mechanisms on space technology applications for disaster management, and

on policy framework on space information products and services for disaster

management, ESCAP has make clear its strategic direction in promoting a scientifically

sound, diplomatically acceptable and politically relevant, harmonized regional

cooperation platform for member States’ easy access, affordable and effective use of

space information for disaster management.

The ESCAP secretariat has organized meetings on disaster management

communications through partnership with organizations, such as ITU and the Asia-

Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC). It is also promoting and supporting

recent initiative, Tampere Convention, entering into force for the development and

affordable/sustainable implementation of deployable satcom-enriched disaster response

capabilities. ESCAP believes that each country would benefit from having disaster

management emergency communication capacities, and the fact that satellite-enhanced

deployable systems have demonstrated their capabilities for supporting response

activities to the recent tsunami and earthquake disasters in Asia and hurricane disaster in

America. ESCAP is working with others to help countries establish such capacities.

Responding to the request of Pacific leaders, ESCAP conducted a study on Pacific

connectivity in 2006 -2007, in cooperation of ITU, Pacific Island Forum Secretariat

(PIFs). When recommended options in technical, financial, institutional and commercial

aspects, including the development of a dedicated satellite communication system for

the Pacific island countries, the study also emphasized the importance of

communication to disaster management in the Pacific countries. Follow-up efforts are

planed to explore actions in satellite communication applications for delivery of disaster

related information to the Pacific countries, in particular the satellite based information.

Under the ESCAP Regional Space Applications Programme, China, India and Indonesia

have been providing training opportunities to developing countries, particularly least

developed countries, in the region on use of space technology and GIS technology for

development. Recently, such training activities have been directed to the use of space

information and GIS for disaster management. To support such activities, under its

South-South cooperation framework ESCAP have been providing fellowship of travel

cost to the trainees to participate the training, and the host governments cover all local

costs of the training activities. In coming years, these training will be continued and

more focused to meet capacity building requirements of lest developed countries in their

participation in and benefit from the regional cooperative mechanisms.

With supports of China, India, Thailand and FAO, ESCAP is promoting regional

cooperative mechanism on space information for drought disaster monitoring and early

warning. A series of discussion were conducted, and a manual on space information

products and services for drought disaster monitoring and early warning is under

compilation. It is expected that the manual, after discussion among and further

improvement by participating countries, would be used as the technical basis for

establishment of the cooperation mechanism. The possible modalities of the mechanism

were suggested include exchange of experience in technical development and

institutionalized operational services, development of local service models, training and

on-the job train, and possible extension of national services to requested neighboring

countries.

APRSAF and Sentinel Asia:

The Sentinel Asia (SA) initiative is collaboration between space agencies and disaster

management agencies, applying remote sensing and Web-GIS technologies to assist

disaster management in the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to:

・  Improve safety in society by ICT and space technology
・  Improve speed and accuracy of disaster preparedness and early warning
・  Minimize the number of victims and social/economic losses

SA is a voluntary initiative and best-efforts-basis led by the Asia-Pacific Regional Space

Agency Forum (APRSAF) to share disaster information across the Asia-Pacific region,

using primarily the Digital Asia (Web-GIS) platform. Its architecture is designed to

operate initially as an internet-based, node-distributed information distribution

backbone, eventually distributing relevant satellite and in situ spatial information on

multiple hazards in the Asia-Pacific region.

SA is promoted with cooperation amongst the space Community (APRSAF), the

international community (UN ESCAP, UN OOSA, ASEAN, Asian Institute of

Technology (AIT) etc.), the disaster reduction community (Asian Disaster Reduction

Center (ADRC) and its member countries) and the Digital Asia Community (Keio

University etc.).

To support the implementation of the SA, a Joint Project Team (JPT) was organized.

Membership of the JPT is open to all the APRSAF member countries, disaster

prevention organizations and regional/international organizations that are prepared to

contribute their experience and technical capabilities, and that wish to participate in

technical aspects of disaster information sharing activities.

A step-by-step approach for implementation of this dissemination system was adopted

as follows:

Step 1: Implementation of the backbone Sentinel Asia data dissemination system as a

pilot project, to showcase the value and impact of the technology using

standard internet dissemination systems (2006-2007)

Step 2: Expansion of the dissemination backbone with new satellite communication

systems (2008-2012)

Step 3: Establishment of a comprehensive disaster management support system (2013

onwards)

SA Step1 has achieved its overall goals. The Sentinel Asia website has operated since

October 2006. It has served as a good demonstrator project, to share disaster-related

information obtained by several Earth observation satellites such as Advanced Land

Observing Satellite (ALOS), Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS), Multi-functional

Transport Satellite 1R (MTSAT-1R), Terra and Aqua. It also demonstrates recent

advances in web-mapping technologies and ICT systems.

SA Step 2 has recently been initiated with the following principles and objectives:

・A contribution from the space community (APRSAF) to disaster management

in the Asia-Pacific region

・To promote utilization of disaster-related information obtained by space and

remote sensing technology in order to mitigate and prevent damage caused by

natural disasters

・To strengthen and succeed Step1, considering the findings and achievements of

Step 1 and users’ needs

・A voluntary initiative through the new Joint Project Team

The results of the emergency observation in Nov 2007-Jly 2008 are given in the table-1,

the table-2, the table-3.

The cyclone and typhoon, the flood and landslide, the earthquake are 3 times emergency

observations each other in the table-1.

Indonesia and Japan, Bangladesh requested 2 times each other in the table-2.

The detail of disaster that the emergency observation was requested is given in the

table-3.

Several imagery in Myanmar and Indonesia are given in the figure-1 and the figure-2 as

the example distributed imagery

Table-1 Frequency by category

Table-2 Frequency by country

Event

request

frequency

obsavation

frequency

Cyclone and typhoon

Foold and Landslide

Earthquake

Snow avalanch

Storm Surge

total

country

request

frequency

obsavation

frequency

comments

Australia

Bangladesh

China

request from SA

Secretariat

Indonesia

Japan

Myanmar

Request from Austlaria

Pakistan

Philippines

Viet nam

total

Table -3 Result of the emergency observation (Nov 2007-Jly 2008)

]

Date of request Duration

Country

Event

Disastaer scale

Practice of observation coments

2007/ 11/ 7 2007/ 10/ 28 Viet nam

Flood,Flash Flood

Flash floods killed at least 13 people and

injured 31 in central Vietnam this week and

more heavy rain over the next few days could

add to the damage, the government said on 1

November 2007.

normal observation

2007/ 11/ 15 2007/ 11/ 15 Bangladesh Tropical Cyclone

Thousands of families have been evacuated

from their homes in over a dozen coastal

districts of Bangladesh as a severe cyclone

Sidr heads in from the Bay of Bengal, officials

said on 15 November, 2007.

As of 26 November, the Government of

Bangladesh (GoB) official reports indicated

that more than 7 million people were affected

by Cyclone Sidr, with a death toll of 3,243

people, with a further 880 missing and 34,708

injured

emargency observation

2007/ 11/ 26 2007/ 11/ 23 Bangladesh Tropical Cyclone - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hevy hazard didn't occurr

2008/ 1/ 11 - - - - - - - - - - Pakistan

Snow avalanch

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Event didn't occur

2008/ 1/ 24 2008/ 1/ 14 Australia

Flood

The flood started on 14 January 2008 has

caused 3200 displaced in Queensland,

Australia.

emargency observation

2008/ 2/ 26

2008/ 2/ 7 Indonesia Flood, Landslide

Two people were killed and five more were

missing after heavy rainfall triggered a

landslide on the Indonesian island of Java, an

official said.

normal observation

2008/ 5/ 7

2008/ 5/ 2 Myanmar Cyclone

A tropical cyclone has killed at least 22,500

people in Myanmar and 41,000 people are

missing.

emargency observation Austlaria requested

2008/ 5/ 13 2008/ 5/ 12 China

Earthquake

On 12 May 2008, an earthquake of magnitude

7.9 and depth 19km occurred in China

(Sichuan).

emargency observation Japan requested

2008/ 6/ 4

1900/ 1/ 0 Indonesia Storm Surge

Residents in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta,

braced for further flooding after a high tide of

over 2 metres resulted in flooding in parts of

the city on Wednesday (4 June 2008).

normal observation

2008/ 6/ 14 2008/ 6/ 14 Japan

Earthquake

12 people were killed and 10 people are

missing, and 353 were injured Saturday

morning when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake

struck northeastern Japan, Japanese officials

said

emargency observation

2008/ 6/ 25 2008/ 6/ 21 Philippines Typhoon

Typhoon Fengshen has killed 155 people in the

Philippines in a torrent of flashfloods and

landslides, the head of the Philippines Red

Cross, Richard Gordon, told local radio on

Sunday.

emargency observation

2008/ 7/ 24 2008/ 7/ 24 Japan

Earthquake

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck

northeastern Japan on 24 July 2008 injuring

95 people

emargency observation

Major enhancement/expansion items from SA Step1 to SA Step2 are follows:

1° Participation of various satellites
In addition to    Step 1’s Earth observation satellites such as ALOS (JAXA), MTSAT-1R (JMA)
and IRS (ISRO), new Earth observation satellites such as the Korean Multi-purpose Satellite
(KOMPSAT, KARI), Thai Earth Observation System (THEOS, GISTDA), and communications
satellites such as the wideband Internetworking Engineering Test and Demonstration Satellite
(WINDS, JAXA) etc. are expected to join.
2° Improvement of accessibility to information
In addition to data sharing via the Internet in Step 1, information transmission to facilitate
access to disaster-related information through various means including demonstration of the use
of new-generation communication satellites will be introduced.
3° Value-added data
A new framework of satellite data analysis is organized to provide analyzed images and easily
comprehensible interpretations from images.
4° Expansion of disaster scope
SA is expected to contribute to the mitigation of global warming through strengthening its
contribution to wildfire management, which has a substantial influence on global warming.
5° User expansion
An expansion plan of the user-base will be developed to include local disaster authorities in
cooperation with organizations such as UNESCAP.
6° Enrichment of outreach and capacity building
A new framework to promote outreach and capacity building will be organized. JAXA, ISRO,
AIT and ADRC are expected to be among the organizations that join the framework.

(Descriptions of this “APRSAF and Sentinel Aisa” portion are provided by JAXA.)

AP-MCSTA and the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO)

Asia-Pacific Multilateral Cooperation in Space Technology and Applications (AP-MCSTA) was
initiated by China, Pakistan and Thailand in 1992, with the objective to promote multilateral
cooperation in space technology and applications in the Asia-Pacific Region. In April 1998, a
Memorandum of Understanding was signed jointly by China, Iran, Republic of Korea, Mongolia,
Pakistan and Thailand for “Cooperation in Small Multi-Mission Satellite (SMMS) Project and Other
Related Activities", and Bangladesh joined this Group in July 1999. Now the small satellite was
launched on 5 September 2008 in China, as one optical satellite under the first stage of the
environment and disaster monitoring constellation, as proposed by China.

Under AP-MASTA, a series of workshops and training activities were organized, including some on
the applications of space technology for disaster management. Among them, some training
opportunities were offered to ESCAP as support to the implementation of the Regional Space
Applications Programme.

Now AP-MCSTA is going to be institutionalized as the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation
Organization with the APSCO Convention being signed by 9 countries of Bangladesh, China,
Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand and Turkey. It is expected that the small satellite
constellation for environment and disaster monitoring will be the core field for the cooperation
activities among its members. Major members of AP-MCSTA have expressed their strong intention

to cooperate with ESCAP in the field of space technology applications for disaster management,
with its major technical resources of the disaster monitoring constellation, and to support the
establishment of regional cooperation platform on space technology applications for disaster
management under the United Nations.

ADRC
The Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) was established in July 1998, with a mandate to
facilitate multinational cooperation for disaster reduction in the Asian region. Along with 27
member countries, ADRC pursues activities leading to further prosperity and safe, peaceful, and
comfortable lives in Asia.

ADRC also addresses issues of concern related to disaster reduction from a global perspective, in
cooperation with international organizations and initiatives, such as the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN/OCHA), UNESCO, the United Nations University
(UNU), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UN/ESCAP), World Meteorological Organization(WMO), and the World Health Organization
Regional Office for the Western Pacific(WHO/WPRO).

One of the services of Sentinel Asia is the emergency observation by the satellite for the disaster
affected area. According to request from the organization in disaster affected country, the emergency
observation is implemented. This emergency observation service started form Oct 2006.
The follow chart to the distribution of the imagery of emergency observation from the emergency
observation request is given in the figure-3.
Now ADRC is only gate way for the emergency observation request at SA, and only ADRC member
and the JPT member can request the emergency observation.
ADRC receives the emergency observation request, and requests the emergency observation to Date
Provider Nodes (DPNs) such as JAXA and ISRO.
According to request from ADRC, DPNs implement the emergency observation.
Then ADRC announces the results of the emergency observation to the requester by the Sentinel
Asia webpage or E-Mail etc.

figure-3 Emergency Satellite observation Request

Other sub-regional initiatives

There are many sub-regional initiatives are promoting the use of space information and GIS for
disaster management.

Under the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the
Disaster Management Centre was established in October 2006 in New Delhi. Through this center,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and other SAARC countries may access to free-of-cost remote
sensing data collected by various satellites launched by the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) during major disasters in its member countries.

Limited by the economic scales and technical capacity, the Pacific Islands Applied Geo-science
Commission has been playing the role of gateway for Pacific island countries’ access to space
information products and services, including in the field of disaster risk reduction.

Recommendations

Space technology based tools are indispensable for effective disaster management. When most space
faring countries expressed intention to share their relevant technical and information resources to
support other countries’ disaster risk reduction efforts, major actions should be focused on
1)

Further study on relevant policy issues for most developing countries’ easy access and affordable
and effective use of such technical tools, and provide relevant options towards institutionalized
cooperative mechanisms.

Development of a scientifically sound, diplomatically acceptable and politically relevant,
harmonized regional cooperation platform, as a the regional component of the global platform;

Commitment of contributory countries on provision of value-added products to less capable
countries;

Harmonization of common agreed space information products among different initiatives;

Development of data policy of space faring countries on provision of space information for pre-
disaster preparedness purpose.

Commitment of capable countries and development aiding agencies to support the long-term
provision of such services.

Contact Person / Focal Point

Mr. Xuan Zengpei, Chief, Information and Communication Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction
Division, ESCAP
Mr. Wu Guoxiang, Section Chief, Information and Communication Technology and Disaster Risk
Reduction Division, ESCAP
Mr. Koji Suzuki, Executive Director, ADRC