As part of the technical advisory support it provides to countries worldwide in making use of space-based information for disaster management, UN-SPIDER carries out an Institutional Strengthening Mission to Ecuador from 8 to 12 April 2019 upon the request of the Government of Ecuador. This activity is jointly organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency... read more
Latin America and Caribbean
Noticias
Regional Support Offices mentioned:
New satellite-based study of Latin America volcanoes could help researchers better predict eruptions
As part of it advisory support activities, UN-SPIDER is carrying out out a Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to Peru from 1 to 5 April to evaluate the current and potential use of space-based information in all aspects of disaster management. Based on exchanges with a wide range of stakeholders, UN-SPIDER will provide recommendations as to how to strengthen the use of space-based information in disaster risk management and emergency response in the country.
The team of experts led by UN-SPIDER is conducting multiple activities and institutional visits in Lima. The team is comprised of eight experts from UN-SPIDER; the German Aerospace Centre (... read more
Regional Support Offices mentioned:
Satellites from NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are monitoring the eruption of Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) in Guatemala that has killed at least 69 people since it started erupting on 3 June 2018.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the joint NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) satellite captured an imagery) of the eruption and resulting ash plume emitted by the volcano.
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The International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” has been activated for Guatemala’s Fuego volcano on 5 June.
Guatemala’s most powerful eruption in 100 years has killed at least 69 people with many more missing, according to local reports.
A state of emergency has been declared with the eruption, which started on Sunday, cascaded vast clouds of volcanic ash, rocks and toxic gas into the atmosphere. 3,000 local... read more
European Commission signs Earth observation cooperation arrangements with Colombia, Chile and Brazil
The European Commission has signed Cooperation Arrangement with Colombia, Chile and Brazil. Under the arrangements, the three countries will gain access to the wide range of applications of the Copernicus Earth observation programme and data provided by the European Sentinel satellites using connections between data centres.
With the arrangements, the European Commission aims to grant access to the three Latin American countries to data provided by Sentinel satellites. All three cooperation arrangements include reciprocity clauses that... read more
The Executive Secretariat of Guatemala’s National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Risk Reduction (SE-CONRED), the National Secretariat of Science and Technology (SENACYT), the National Authority for the Sustainable Management of Amatitlan Lake (AMSA) and the Institute of Environmental Studies of the Faculty of Agriculture of the San Carlos University of Guatemala (IAA-USAC) are joining forces to conduct a training course on the use of radar imagery to map the extent of floods. The training course is being conducted in the GIS Laboratory of IAA-USAC from 16 to 19 October 2017 by instructors from the Federal University of Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (UFSM), and from the Agustin Codazzi Geographic Institute of Colombia (IGAC).
The training course focuses on the use of the UN-SPIDER Recommended Practice that has been developed by the Ukrainian... read more
The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) - Mapping and the International Charter Space and Major Disasters have been activated for Hurricane Maria, a category 5 storm, as it made landfall on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Category 5 is the highest grade on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. With sustained wind of 252 km/h or higher, category 5 hurricanes are expected to cause extensive damage. Hurricane Maria is the second maximum strength storm in the Atlantic this this month and has caused significant damage in Dominicana and other Caribbean islands. Many of the affected areas are still recovering from... read more
Regional Support Offices mentioned:
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters have been activated in Costa Rica on 28 November 2016 due to the consequences of Hurricane Otto. The activation was requested by USGS on behalf of National Emergency Committee Costa Rica. UN-SPIDER contributed with Costa Rica to activate the charter and is permanently giving technical support to that country.
Heavy rain, floods, landslides, destruction, some 6000 displaced people and nine victims left the tropical storm. Otto also affected Panama and Nicaragua leaving damage and victims. ... read more
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters have been activated on 21 November 2016 due to several days of heavy rain in Panama. The activation was requested by the United States Geological Survey.
The National Civil Protection System of the country (SINAPROC) issued alerts for the provinces of Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro and Veraguas and SINAPROC teams have evacuated several communities living along the Chiriqui Viejo river. According to the FloodList portal, the floods damaged houses and forced affected people to evacuate to temporary shelters in different districts.
Meanwhile, in Costa Rica the National Emergency Commission (CNE) also declared a preventive alert for the Southern Pacific region after... read more
On 21 Monday 2016 the Otto tropical storm formed in the Caribbean and could reach the hurricane category. The U.S. National Hurricane Center estimated the storm to reach Nicaragua and Costa Rica on Thursday. The storm might strength within the next 48 hours therefore becoming a hurricane in the following days. Reuters reported that the almost-stationary storm, with sustained winds of 80 kilometers per hour, was some 282 km east-southeast of the San Andres Island. For more information on this storm click here.
On Wednesday 23 November 2016 the Costa Rica Government declared the national state of... read more
8.2 million people have been affected by natural disasters from January to August 2016 in Latin America and the Caribbean according to the “Humanitarian Bulletin” for the region, a publication of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recently.
Bolivia’s increased drought problems are affecting more than 740,000 inhabitants in different regions including the east and south parts of the country. In Central America, a region also affected by drought, people hope that food security will improve with the first 2017 harvests. Although strong, La Nina predictions have decreased and with them the expectations of climate-related disasters and floods. Until the end of August 2016 there were ten Hurricanes in the Atlantic and North... read more
During the past decades Latin America countries like Argentina and Brazil have been active in launching satellites for Earth observation . In recent years, a satellite receiving station was established in Chetumal, Mexico.
In recent years countries in this region have been engaged in the development of observation tools. Venezuela and Chile have launched Earth observation satellites and Venezuela is also working on a next satellite generation with the contribution of China. This year Peru launched its first observation satellite PeruSat-1 under the direction of Gustavo Henriquez. The data obtained from... read more
On 20 October 2016 the International Charter Space and Major Disaster was activated due to floods in Panama. The request of activation was due to heavy rain in the Darien and Tonosi province. The situation can worsen because more rain is expected on the following days. The activation of the charter was requested by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on behalf of the Tropic Humid Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean or CATHALAC for its acronym in Spanish. Approximately 3.500 people have been affected and there are no victims, reported the local daily La Prensa. More information on the topic here.
Regional Support Offices mentioned:
Our Latin American and Caribbean Regional Support Office, CATHALAC, participated in the 7th Annual Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation from 6 to 8 July 2016 in Bonn. The main purpose was to share experiences and solutions on how a city can be resilient or in other words be prepared to face and... read more
Regional Support Offices mentioned:
On 3 October 2016 the Copernicus Emergency Management Service was activated at the request of the European Commission' services for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection.
The storm, which has already affected other Caribbean countries like the Dominican Republic and Cuba, triggered floods, landslides and fatalities. According to Euronews the storm, now on its way to the Bahamas and the USA, is weakening and has been reduced from a category four to a three hurricane. More information is available here.
On 6 October 2016 the Copernicus Emergency Management Service was also activated for the United States at request... read more
On 3 October 2016 the International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated due to Hurricane Matthew in Haiti. The request for activation was due to heavy rain and winds reaching up to 145 mph. Haiti, a country susceptible to floods, has already experienced the consequences of the storm with three deaths, missing fisherman and several thousands of people evacuated.
The activation of the Charter was requested by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on behalf of the Pacific Disaster Center, the latest being nominated as Project Manager for this Charter activation.
On 5 October 2016 the International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated in the Dominican Republic. Floods, evacuated people, and four deaths are among the reasons for the... read more
Matthew, currently a category 4 hurricane, has already impacted Haiti, a country still recovering from a devastating earthquake on 2010; as well as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. According to the BBC, authorities in these countries warned people to be prepared for this very powerful hurricane. Other countries that will feel the impact of the Hurricane include: Cuba and the United States. More information on this topic is available here.
CNN reported that there are already three victims and missing people. Matthew is now moving towards Cuba and might affect the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma and Las Tunas. The Cuban government has taken measures to be prepared as it expects the hurricane to landfall in the following hours. More details from CNN regarding Matthew are available here.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) caught images of smoke in Latin America.
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On the beginning of July 2016, airborne dust reached the coast of Chile. This phenomenon hardly ever occurs in the west coast of South America, according to atmospheric researchers.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite of the National... read more
Ms. Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of UNOOSA, carried out an official visit to El Salvador, which was arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations Office at Vienna as a follow-up to the recent incorporation of El Salvador as a member of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. He mission to El Salvador served to provide visibility to the on-going efforts conducted by UNOOSA and the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to define the 2030 Space Agenda through the UNISPACE+50 process.
Two key activities in her visit included presentations to high ranking officers in government ministries and technical staff on the role and activities conducted by UNOOSA and the on-going UNISPACE+50 process. In addition, the opportunity was used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador and UNOOSA to sign an memorandum of agreement as a way to... read more
UN-SPIDER published a new recommended practice in its Knowledge Portal outlining detailed step-by-step procedures to support drought monitoring. The practice was developed by researchers from the Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil (UFSM). The procedure has been used to elaborate drought-related maps for Brazil in recent years.
With this recommended practice, one more milestone was reached within the Strengthening Early Warning Systems for Droughts (SEWS-D) project. The SEWS-D project aims to contribute to the institutionalization and the improvement of EWS dedicated to drought through the incorporation of the routine use of satellite information, specifically by promoting the use of FAO’s ASIS system... read more
The ongoing El Niño event is already classed as one of the strongest in recent decades. El Niño usually peaks around Christmas and has in the past been known to cause prolonged droughts and extreme rainfall events in several regions of the world. These consequences have further negative effects on food security, infrastructure, water availability, and people’s livelihoods. Because El Niño is a recurring event and because of past experiences, areas that are usually hit the hardest have now taken actions to mitigate its effects.
Latin America is already experiencing a number of extreme weather events during the last recent months. Several areas in Central America have been hit by drought, affecting around 3.5 million people and leaving more than 2 million people needing food aid. The situation is aggravated due to the lack of rainfall since 2014. Other areas affected by the same event... read more
The VII Space Conference of the Americas was inaugurated on 17 November 2015 in Managua, Nicaragua and will conclude on 19 November 2015. The conference brings together representatives of the space community, government institutions, academia and other regional and international organizations. The conference is organized by the Superior Coordinating Council, which includes the Nicaraguan Science and Technology Council, the National Council of Universities and the Ministry of the Presidency for Public Policies.
As stated by the organizers, the conference will address the use of space technologies... read more
