In spite of India’s prominence in the domain of space technology and applications, it was still deemed necessary to assess the use and implementation of the latter in disaster management. That need was specifically taken up by the State Disaster Management Authorities (SMDA) who are mainly responsible for implementing the policy guidelines provided by the central Government of India. Consequently a workshop was organized.
Experts of UN-SPIDER and the India National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)
A workshop was set up for experts from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), NIDM, UN-SPIDER as well as other disaster management authorities to extensively share their experiences and knowledge on Remote Sensing and GIS for disaster management.
Various recommendations were made during the workshop discussions, addressing state-level policy interventions that are needed for capacity development and access to space-based and geo-information. The need for effective data sharing in order to utilize that geo-information for disaster management purposes was stressed. The importance of circulating these recommendations amongst state authorities was also noted. Finally, the workshop yielded a virtual community (e-group), created by the NIDM, directly connected to the ISRO Disaster Management System, and where UN-SPIDER will be able to provide constant updates on recent advances in the use of space-based technology for disaster management.
