News
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The UN-SPIDER Regional Workshop: "Building Upon Regional Space-based Solutions for Disaster Management and Emergency Response for Africa" has been POSTPONED Tue Apr 6 2010The Organising Committee of the UN-SPIDER Regional Workshop: "Building Upon Regional Space-based Solutions for Disaster Management and Emergency Response for Africa", planned for 25 to 28 May 2010, has decided to postpone the event to a later date due to the upcoming National elections in Ethiopia which will be held just before the planned UN-SPIDER event and which might cause...
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Topography Reflects Baja Quake Site's Complex Geology Tue Apr 6 2010The topography surrounding the Laguna Salada fault in the Mexican state of Baja, California, is clearly shown in this combined radar image and topographic view (right) generated with data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). On April 4, 2010, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck along this fault about 64 kilometers (40 miles) south of the Mexico-United States border. According...
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UN-SPIDER meets SEGEPLAN to discuss the Technical Advisory Mission to Guatemala Thu Apr 1 2010On March 5, 2010 the UN-SPIDER attended a meeting with the Lady Executive Director of SEGEPLAN (Secretaría de Planificación y Programación de la Presidencia), Dr. Karin Slowing Umaña to discuss a Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to be conducted by UN-SPIDER to Guatemala later this year. The mission, to be conducted at the request of SEGEPLAN, builds up...
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Fujitsu's New Disaster-Management System for JAXA Goes Live Thu Apr 1 2010Fujitsu today announced that the Sentinel Asia(*1) STEP-2 system, which it built under the auspices of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), became fully operational on March 31, 2010. The system supports disaster-prevention activities using Earth observation satellites operated by government agencies in Asia, including JAXA, to acquire satellite imagery. The images are then...
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Astrium to build ESA's second Sentinel-2 satellite for GMES Thu Apr 1 2010ESA has awarded a contract worth €105 million to Astrium to build the second Sentinel-2 satellite. Once both are operational, this pair of satellites will provide global coverage every five days, delivering high-resolution optical imagery for GMES land and emergency services. Marking another milestone in Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, this...
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UN-SPIDER Technical Advisory Mission to Haiti in March 2010 Tue Mar 30 2010In its function as provider of Technical Advisory Support, UN-SPIDER conducted a mission to Haiti to support national agencies in charge of disaster-risk management and emergency response. The mission was performed during the period of March 14-20, 2010, and benefited from the substantive support provided by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations...
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UN-SPIDER participation in ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) meeting in Bangkok (24-26 March 2010) Thu Apr 15 2010The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) Regional Office for Asia & Pacific organized this meeting to focus on the next cycle of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) progress reporting, HFA mid-term review and the preparation for the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR). The meeting was attended by 19 countries from the Asia-...
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ESA Seeks To Speed Up Emergency Response Mon Mar 29 2010Prospective users of European space systems for civil security and defense purposes have said their top priorities are quicker response to emergencies and more assets under European, as opposed to U.S. or other foreign, control, the European Space Agency (ESA) has concluded. ESA is developing a data-relay service as part of a partnership with a future private-sector operator that would ensure...
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UN-SPIDER visits the National Focal Points of Thailand in GISTDA (23 March 2010) Thu Apr 15 2010UN-SPIDER visited the National Focal Points in the Kingdom of Thailand. The organizations representing the National Focal Point are the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (Ministry of Interior). Dr. Darasri Dowreang andDr. Chaowalit Silapathong of GISTDA presented their activities focussing on the applications...
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ESA’s TIGER II to support 20 water projects in Africa Wed Mar 24 2010ESA’s TIGER II initiative has selected 20 project proposals across Africa to receive support from Earth-observation technology to learn more about the water cycle and to improve water-monitoring resources. TIGER II is based on the results and achievements of its precursor TIGER I, which sought to help African countries overcome water problems and to bridge Africa's water information gap...
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DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 Satellite Elevation Data Verified to Be Accurate Within 30 Centimeters Wed Mar 17 2010DigitalGlobe today announced that the elevation data gathered from its latest high-resolution satellite, WorldView-2, has been verified as accurate within 30 centimeters by PhotoSat based on data collected by MWH Geo-Surveys. To conduct the test, PhotoSat constructed an elevation grid using automatic geophysical processing of 50-centimeter ground resolution stereo satellite images taken by...
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Thales Begins Development Of Sentinel 1B And 3B Environmental Satellites Wed Mar 17 2010Thales Alenia Space has started the development of Sentinel 1B and 3B Earth observation satellites in its Italian and French facilities. These contracts have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space in December 2009, worth 270 million euros, by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme. As prime contractor for Sentinel 1 and Sentinel...
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New UN satellite standards to boost communications in emergencies Thu Mar 11 2010New radiocommunication standards for satellite services that could be used to save greater lives in the wake of natural disasters have been approved, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) announced today. “Establishing communications in the aftermath of a disaster is vital to facilitate rapid and effective rescue and rehabilitation efforts,” said the...
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'Jugnu' nano-satellite Tue Mar 9 2010“Jugnu”, is a new nano-satellite developed by the IIT Kanpur in association with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The project was launched in 2008 by a small team of students and today it includes more than 45 students and 14 professors.” Jugnu” is planned to be launched into orbit later this year. The life span of this nano-satellite is set for one...
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RapidEye Releases Change Detection in Chile Tue Mar 9 2010RapidEye, a geospatial information provider, using their own before and after imagery of the city of Concepcion, Chile, recorded the changes caused by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake on February 27, 2010. The region around the city of Concepcion was the most affected by the earthquake. The damage was recorded by comparing the satellite images taken on January 22, 2010 with the satellite images taken...
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Follow-up activity in Namibia to further develop the Namibian SensorWeb Pilot Project on flood management and vector- and water-borne disease modeling Fri Mar 5 2010Following a range of activities - such as activations of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters in 2008 and 2009, a Technical Advisory Mission in February 2009, a technical expert meeting in Bonn in August 2009, and the 3rd International UN-SPIDER workshop in Bonn in October 2009 – UN-SPIDER together with the Department of Water Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Water and...
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China launches new remote-sensing satellite Fri Mar 5 2010xinhuanet reports, that China has successfully launched "Yaogan IX", a new remote-sensing satellite, according to a statement from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite shall be used to conduct scientific experiments, carry out surveys on land resources, forecast grain output and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention endeavor. For article go to: http://news....
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UN assisting Chile in aftermath of massive quake; including provision of satellite phones Tue Mar 2 2010Authorities in Chile have issued a request for supplies, including mobile bridges, satellite telephones, electric generators, water purification systems and dialysis centers. The United Nations is sending several satellite phones to Chile for officials coordinating earthquake relief efforts and is prepared to send 30 tons of food and other aid if the government gives the green light, the top...
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RapidEye Delivers Satellite Images of Chile's Damaged City of Concepción Mon Mar 1 2010The images cover a total area of 13,125 km² and show the most damaged area around the city of Concepción. They were taken on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at around 11:00 a.m. local time, only a few hours after the earthquake hit the area at 3:34 a.m. in the morning local time. In order to be able to run change detection analyses, RapidEye also has images available of the very same...
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A Massive Earthquake hits Chile Mon Mar 1 2010An 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Chile early morning on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 3:34 a.m. local time, about 200 miles southwest of the Chilean capital of Santiago, killing several hundred people and exposing millions of people to strong shaking that toppled many buildings. The quake damaged houses, bridges and highways in Santiago, the capital, though a few...
