Floods and associated landslides account for the largest number of natural disasters and affect more people than any other type of natural disaster. With the availability of satellite rainfall analyses at fine time and space resolution, it has also become possible to mitigate such hazards on a near-global basis. In this article, a framework to detect floods and landslides related to heavy rain events in near-real-time is proposed. Key components of the framework are: a fine resolution precipitation acquisition system; a comprehensive land surface database; a hydrological modeling component; and landslide and debris flow model components. A key precipitation input dataset for the integrated applications is the NASA TRMM-based multi-satellite precipitation estimates. This dataset provides near real-time precipitation at a spatial-temporal resolution of 3 h and 0.258 x 0.258. In combination with global land surface datasets it is now possible to expand regional hazard...
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Flooding is one of the most destructive natural hazards, accounting for over a third of all disaster damage worldwide. In particular inless developed countries (LDCs) this is typically attributed to poor planning, lack of warning systems and limited awareness of thehazard. A number of flood risk models have been developed, but have as yet contributed little to mapping and quantifying the risk inLDCs, for several reasons. In addition to limited human and technical capacity, these models require considerable amounts ofcurrent spatial information that is widely lacking, such as landcover, elevation and elements at risk basedata. Collecting those withground-based methods is difficult, but remote sensing technologies have the potential to acquire them economically. To account forthe variety of required information, data from different sensors are needed, some of which may not be available or affordable.Therefore, data interchangeability needs to be considered.Thus we test...
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Tsunami occurred on December 26th, 2004 and caused heavy losses of lives and properties along the western coast of Thailand, especially in the six provinces along the Andaman Sea. In order to prepare for such unpredictable natural disaster, Tsunami Warning System Committee agreed to establish tsunami warning towers in the six provinces along the Andaman coastline as the first priority. GISTDA utilized LANDSAT and IKONOS satellite images along with GIS to locate the most suitable sites for tower installation. Factors that were taken into consideration in locating the sites include the risk of the area for tsunami, effectiveness of tower working range and the towers must not block the good view of scenery. The Committee then selected the sites and has established three tsunami-warning towers in Phuket, which have been in operation since April 2005. Each is located 3 km apart from each other and can broadcast within 1.5 km range. In summary, satellite images are extremely...
read moreMassive flooding that has swept through Queensland, Australia, and claimed at least one life will likely force the evacuation of at least 1,000 people
Source: GLIDEnumber,
More news: BBC
Floods in South-Central Vietnam have cost the lives of 29 people and more than 39,212 flooded or damaged houses. As of this morning, a low pressure zone in the East Sea has strengthened into a tropical depression causing strong winds and medium to heavy rain in provinces from Thua Thien - Hue to Binh Dinh in the next 24h.
Source: GLIDEnumber
305 families affected by heavy rains that destroyed their homes in Aragua state and caused landslides.
Source: GLIDEnumber
Heavy rains over the past four days caused floods in central and northern parts of Montenegro, causing severe damage, especially in three municipalities up north. 270 families were evacuated (around 1350 persons), and are in need of basic emergency relief items.
Source: GLIDEnumber
Due to the effect of a low pressure system in the Caribbean Sea interacting with Tropical Storm Tomas, strong and continuous rains fell across Panama, producing landslides and flooding in 5 provinces: Chiriquí, Veraguas, Colón, Darién and Coclí. By Monday, 8 November, there had been two deaths and the government reported 6,200 people affected.
Source: GLIDEnumber
On December 9th, the Government of Panama called a national emergency.
For more information, please see Goverment of Panama,...
read moreFloods caused by continuous rains affected 117 families and 548 persons. Rescue teams were mobilized in search for the missing.
Source: GLIDEnumber
On Sunday 17 and Monday 18 October, the region of Saint-Louis and its surrounding areas received 98 mm of rains. The rain added to the already 325 mm downpour in August and September and brought the city into a catastrophic situation with many casualties and damages.
Source: GLIDEnumber