ICIMOD

To support emergency response efforts, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has mapped the extent of floods in Bangladesh following Cyclone Amphan, which caused widespread damage in the country and neighboring India in mid-May. The maps are based on Sentinel-1 radar imagery. Radar satellite data is commonly used for flood mapping purposes due to its ability to make measurements irrespective of daytime and cloud cover of the scene.

According to a recent report published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), space-based information can play a key role in the monitoring of agricultural droughts and forest fires. The "Building Mountain Resilience: Solutions from the Hindu Kush Himalaya" report examines the changing problems facing the Himalayan region of South Asia and highlights the potential for technologies, including space-based applications, to inform communities, practitioners, decision-makers and governments alike, and build more resilient mountain communities.

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD),  UN-SPIDER’s Regional Support Office, has been awarded the “Humanitarian GIS Award” at the International User Conference, organized by the Environmental System Research Institute (Esri) in San Diego, California. ICIMOD deserved it due to its immediate involvement in the response efforts after the earthquake that struck Nepal between April and May 2015.

A new platform for earthquake relief and reconstruction operations has been developed for Nepal by the Nepalese Ministry of Home Affairs in conjunction with the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), and the Environmental System Research Institute (Esri). The platform, called ‘Nepal Earthquake 2015: Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction Information Platform (DRRIP)’, aims to rationalize the information gathered by several actors and sources, for a better allocation of the available resources and avoiding the duplication of functions.

“Disaster Reporting” is a new android application launched by UN-SPIDER's Nepal Regional Support Office ICIMOD and Kathmandu University, Nepal, with the aim of easing relief processes of disaster events through contributive reports of the users.

The users can select the type of disaster event and inform about the impact and damages caused, the number of people injured or the relief requirements on the field, among others. Users’ reports allow creating and updating an interactive and freely accessible map, which helps better understanding and assessing the situation.