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Killer year caps deadly decade – reducing disaster impact is “critical” says top UN disaster official Tue Jan 25 2011Geneva – Some 373 natural disasters killed over 296,800 people in 2010, affecting nearly 208 million others and costing nearly US$110 billion, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED). The top two most lethal disasters -- the 12 January earthquake in Haiti, which killed over 222,500 people, as well as the Russian heat wave in summer, which caused about 56...
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From Preparation to Response: Coastal Decision Support during the Caribbean Hurricane Season 2010 with RADARSAT-2 Tue Jan 25 2011By Aube et al., posted on December 28th, 2010 in earthzine, Disasters, Earth Observation, Featured Article Guy Aubé, Dirk Werle, Stu Frye, Nicole Alleyne, J-F Saulnier, Guy Séguin, Mathieu Benoît, Claire Gosselin and Andy Welch Developing Disaster Management Capacity with Earth Observation The image of hurricanes in the public perception is shaped in large part by the...
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Australia needs eye in the sky to help with floods Mon Jan 24 2011Australia is in need of an early warning system to increase its ability to manage natural disasters, according to Linlin Ge, associate professor at the University of New South Wales School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems. Writing in the Melbourne Age, Ge says the current floods in Queensland – where tens of thousands of people had only hours to prepare – could have been...
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UN: Mobile Tech, Web Services to Aid in Disaster Relief Fri Jan 21 2011Traditional helpers in disaster relief, such as the U.N. and world governments, provided aid after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010, leveled Port-au-Prince, claimed 230,000 lives and caused US$14 billion in damages. The technology space also played a role in humanitarian efforts as Haitians buried under rubble sent text messages with their locations and open-source mapping...
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ISRO to provide satellite images of Sabarimala Wed Jan 19 2011THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will provide the satellite images of Sabarimala to the State Government for the infrastructure development of the area in a bid to prevent disasters such as Pulmedu stampede in future, K Radhakrishnan, ISRO Chairman, said. The Pulmedu stampede on Friday night claimed 102 lives. He was speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of an...
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Satellites tracking Mt Merapi volcanic ash clouds Tue Jan 18 2011Since its latest series of deadly eruptions, Java’s Mt Merapi has been spewing volcanic ash clouds into the air. Satellite data are crucial for assessing the eruption’s danger to air traffic and public safety. Mt Merapi began erupting on 26 October and has killed more than 200 people. Numerous international flights in and out of the Indonesia area have been cancelled due to ash clouds...
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New U.S. - India 'Monsoon Agreement' to Improve Global Seasonal Climate Forecasts Tue Jan 18 2011President Obama and India’s Prime Minister Singh will enter into a new collaborative agreement between NOAA and the India Ministry of Earth Sciences that aims to improve India’s monsoon forecasts. The agreement is part of a series of food security agreements formalized this week during the president’s visit. Under the agreement, the U.S. will create a monsoon forecast desk at...
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Aiming to be Asian standard / Govt seeks to boost economy through Japanese GPS satellite system Mon Jan 10 2011Japan's plan to launch six or seven positioning satellites is a 200 billion yen project meant to boost the Japanese economy through its joint implementation by both the public and private sectors. Scheduled to include satellites of the same type as the recently launched quasi-zenith satellite Michibiki, the network's high accuracy also will help Japanese companies expand overseas if the system...
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Satellite Images from GeoEye and Google Earth- The Destruction in Port-au-Prince Mon Jan 10 2011The New York Times Interactive Feature covers the Destruction in Haiti, Then and Now. Satellite photos from GeoEye and Google show Port-au-Prince before and after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake. Source: The New York Times Archive: The Destruction in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Earthquake Multimedia
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CATHALAC presenta avances del Mapa Centroamericano de Cobertura y Uso de la Tierra Thu Dec 23 2010San Salvador, El Salvador- Noviembre, 2010—CATHALAC organizó el taller de “Seguimiento a las Actividades y Verificación de avances del Mapa Regional de Cobertura y Uso de la Tierra” para compartir el material generado para el Mapa, el cual se llevó a cabo en el Salón Centroamericano de la Secretaria General del Sistema de la Integración...
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South Africa's satellite 'leads the way' Thu Dec 23 2010South Africa's micro-satellite, SumbandilaSat, is living up to its Venda name as it "leads the way" in providing free, frequent high-resolution images capable of revolutionising local earth observation in various fields. During August and September, SumbandilaSat produced five high-resolution images of the south-western part of the Kruger National Park and neighbouring Bushbuckridge,...
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South Africa launches space agency Thu Dec 23 2010South Africa's new national space agency will coordinate the country's major space projects, promote space science research, develop related engineering and technological capacity, and devise and implement a national space programme. South Africa has some of the best space infrastructure in Africa, and is already heading some notable space projects, including Africa's bid to host the Square...
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Government gains N44m from sale of satellite images Fri Dec 17 2010Nigeria has generated about £175,000 (N44 million) as satellite monitoring royalties from the Nigeria Sat-1in the orbit, through the supply of imagery capturing and analysing of imagery to other countries.Mohammed Abubakar, minister of science and technology, while corroborating the claim of the NARSDA boss, said that space programme is no longer an exclusive venture reserved for certain...
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DST moots centres of competence in Optronics and Synthetic Aperture Radar Tue Dec 14 2010The Department of Science and Technology (DST) plans to establish centres of competence (CoC) in optronics and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to support South Africa's future space programme. Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor made the announcement at the launch of the South African Space Agency (SANSA) and National Space Strategy last week. Pandor continued that the National Space...
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China All Access Develops the Emergency Satellite Mobile Command Centre System Fri Dec 10 2010Considering the new situation and demand in emergency communication faced by public security and fire departments in fire disaster sites, a company called China All Access developed the Emergency Satellite Mobile Command Centre System. The system is well recognized by the fire departments in China. The Emergency Satellite Mobile Command Centre System has been successfully delivered and applied in...
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Hacking for Humanity: Random Hacks of Kindness Takes New York Fri Dec 10 2010Parsons The New School for Design and the United Nations Global Pulse hosted the New York event of Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), a global initiative held in over twenty locations around the world, organized by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, NASA and the World Bank. RHoK brought together software developers and experts in disaster risk management for a weekend-long "hackathon" to create...
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India catching up fast with latest technology to tackle disasters Thu Dec 9 2010One of the most critical technologies needed in every stage from assessment to recovery is remote sensing--gathering data about an object without physical contact. Here is where the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite programme comes in. IRS' nine satellites make up the largest remote sensing constellation for civilian use anywhere in the world. Following the Mumbai terror attacks of November...
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The Los Angeles Police Department Selects Spacenet To Keep Officers Connected Throughout The City Wed Dec 8 2010--The Los Angeles Police Department Integrates Spacenet’s Emergency Communications Service And Satellite Equipment Into Its Mobile Command Vehicle-- Spacenet’s services will be used to help the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) manage emergency situations across the city. ECS is provided on a usage based model, allowing customers to pay a low monthly standby fee and then only pay...
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Climate change in Google Earth--COP 16 Thu Dec 2 2010Use Google Earth to learn about adaptation strategies that mitigate the effects of climate change. The Google Earth Outreach team and partners have created this series of tours and videos. Fly over tree canopies in 3D, learn about how climate change affects our planet and examine strategies for reducing emissions through preserving forest ecosystems. Source: Google Earth
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UN-SPIDER attended the RCMRD 7th Conference of Ministers Thu Dec 2 2010UNOOSA/UN-SPIDER was invited to attend the RCMRD 7th Conference of Ministers in Cape Town, South Africa, from 22nd to 23rd November 2010. The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) is an intergovernmental organization with 15 contracting members States from Eastern and Southern African region. The conference of ministers reviewed annual reports, the recent 2007-2010...
