WMO, ECMWF, and the Copernicus CCS report record temperatures in the summer 2023

Heatwaves, which can last for several days, impact societies and their livelihoods in many regions of the world. In August of the year 2003, a severe heatwave impacted Europe. According to the Meteorological Office of the United Kingdom (UK MetOffice), this particular heatwave was the worst one in the last 500 years (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/case-studies/heatwave).

Floods in Mozambique

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Heavy rainfall triggered severe floods in the Southern region of Mozambique, including areas of Maputo.  The National Disaster Risk Management Institute (INGC) reported around 37,000 people affected, and contacted UN-SPIDER.   At the request of INGC, UN-SPIDER activated the International Charter Space and Major Disasters.   The International Charter was activated on 16 February 2023, designating the International Water Management Institute as project manager and INGC as a value-added provider. 

Floods in Southern Mozambique
Southern Africa
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Earthquake in Türkiye

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In the early hours of 6 February 2023, a major earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck the sourthern region of Türkiye. The epicentre was located 23 kilometres east of Nurdagi (Gaziantep Province). The earthquake also affected neighbouring Syria and was followed by very strong aftershocks.

Türkiye earthquake, 6 February 2023
2023-000015
Middle East
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3rd International Symposium on Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development 2023

This is event is available for participation on an ongoing basis

The evolution of disaster risk has become more complex due to the effects of climate change, advancements in technology and infrastructure, and growing anthropogenic pressures. The impending risks have wide-ranging and long-term implications for societal sustainable development. Under current development pathways, the world should prepare to face the possibility of more compounding hazards and complex risk landscapes in the future brought on by biological, technological, natural, and man-made hazards, of which many are interrelated and self-perpetuating.

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No certificate issued or not known
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12/07/2023, 12:00am - 12/08/2023, 12:00am
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AIT Conference Center
Bangkok

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

Intermediate Webinar: Transforming Earth Observation Data into Building Infrastructure Data Sets for Disaster Risk Modeling

This is event is available for participation on an ongoing basis

Climate change is not only changing the location, frequency, and severity of environmental extremes and hazards, but also the baseline spatial and temporal patterns that have served as the basis for land use planning, the design of infrastructure, and the development of construction standards and practices. To anticipate the emerging impacts on communities, we must improve understanding of exposed assets, including the built infrastructure and its characteristics such as structure type, use, occupance, compliance with engineering standards, and replacement cost.

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Advanced-level students interested in risk assessment and climate change adaptation, emergency managers, risk modelers, GIS analysts, EO researchers and analysts, Structural Engineers, climate adaptation researchers and planners
No certificate issued or not known
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10/03/2023, 12:00am - 10/10/2023, 12:00am
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Introductory Webinar: Building Climate Risk Assessments from Local Vulnerability and Exposure

This is event is available for participation on an ongoing basis

This ARSET Training will describe climate risk assessment approaches that originate with stakeholder expertise in the fundamental climate vulnerability and exposure of their system. By identifying at-risk assets and the types of climate conditions that drive problematic responses, stakeholders and scientists can co-develop risk information targeting specific climatic impact-drivers and utilizing climate observations and projections sets selected to suitably address those risks.

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This training is primarily intended for local, state, federal, and international entities, including public and private sector organizations to use NASA Earth observations and modeled climate projection datasets for integration into their climate change-related work in different sectors.
No certificate issued or not known
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09/19/2023, 12:00am - 09/21/2023, 12:00am
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UN-SPIDER/DLR/International Charter/ZFL International Workshop: Use of the Charter Mapper during Activations

This is event is available for participation on an ongoing basis

In November 2000, several space agencies joined forces to establish the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters". The International Charter has been set up as a worldwide collaboration through which products generated from satellite imagery are made available free of charge to those responding to disasters in any region of the world. By combining Earth observation assets from different space agencies, the Charter allows resources and expertise to be coordinated. Since it was launched, the Charter has been activated more than 800 times to contribute to disaster response efforts.

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07/18/2023, 12:00am - 07/20/2023, 12:00am
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UN Campus
Bonn

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

International Charter Space & Major Disasters

Center for Remote Sensing of Land Surface (ZFL), University of Bonn

UNOOSA / UN-SPIDER

European Space Agency (ESA)

Terradue

ARGANS

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Upgraded Version of ESA's World Fire Atlas now available

In recent weeks, devastating wildfires have spread in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Tunisia and Canada, causing human casualties as well as massive environmental and economic damage.

While wildfires are a natural part of many ecosystems, scientists have warned that they are becoming more frequent and more widespread. In response, an upgraded version of European Space Agency’s (ESA) World Fire Atlas is now available providing a detailed analysis of wildfires across the globe.

South Africa - Institutional Strengthening Mission

In recent decades, communities in Africa have experienced disasters triggered by floods, droughts, landslides, Ebola pandemics, and locust plagues that have eroded hard-won development gains. Taking note of advances in space technologies and other technological innovations, the African Union indicated in its 2017 African Space Policy that space represented a unique opportunity for cooperation in using and sharing enabling infrastructure and data towards the proactive management of, inter alia, responses to natural hazards and disasters. In that respect, the African Union aims to promote the use of space applications to improve weather forecasts and to develop a range of early warning systems, as Africa is subject to various extreme weather, climate, ecosystem, and geological events.

Since 2017, UN-SPIDER has been providing technical advisory support to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and other institutions of South Africa to facilitate the use of space technologies and space-based information in disaster risk, preparedness, response, and recovery activities. Professionals from the NDMC and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) have been trained on the procedures to activate and manage activations of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, and on tools developed by the space community to map the extent of floods and droughts.

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South Africa National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC)

To contribute to these efforts, UN-SPIDER and the Centre for Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces of the University of Bonn (ZFL) joined forces to organize an Institutional Strengthening Mission (ISM) to South Africa, which was coordinated with the NDMC. The mission was carried out in Pretoria from 8 – 12 May 2023. It included a High-Level Meeting on the first day (8 May), a three-day workshop (9 - 11 May 2023), and institutional visits to the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) (12 May 2023). The aims of the mission were:

  1. To increase synergies with the NDMC and with SANSA, and to link with stakeholder relations with Key South Africa public sector and other disaster management entities responsible for the management of flood and drought hazard.
  2. To facilitate the use of space-based information by NDMC, provincial branches of the NDMC, and other government agencies, in applications related to disaster preparedness, and response.
  3. To continue the implementation of the Flood GUIDE pilot project in South Africa.

The mission included the organization of the UN-SPIDER/NDMC/ ZFL Workshop "Space-based Solutions for floods and droughts in Southern Africa". The key aim of the workshop was to contribute to the efforts conducted by the NDMC, SANSA and other institutions of South Africa in the topics of disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and early warning systems. The aims of this workshop were:

  • To take stock of efforts conducted by risk and disaster management institutions in South Africa on the use of space technologies and space-based information in disaster risk management, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts;
  • To raise awareness regarding novel applications of satellite technologies in hazard mapping, early warning systems, and disaster response operations; including the Global Flood Awareness System (GLOFAS) and the Global Drought Observatory (GDO) of the Copernicus Programme.
  • To raise awareness regarding the UN-SPIDER Recommended Practices for flood mapping using Sentinel 1 radar imagery.

The conduction of the workshop successfully allowed the organizational committee to reach a large audience of representatives of a variety of government agencies in South Africa, on both national and provincial level which contribute to disaster management efforts, and to showcase examples of mechanisms established by the space community to contribute to disaster response efforts worldwide.

With the institutional visits and interinstitutional meetings, the organizers were able to raise awareness about the benefits of the use of space technology and to encourage stronger links between several institutions and the NDMC. Furthermore, the visits to SANSA facilities facilitated an exchange of information between SANSA, NDMC and UN-SPIDER and were used to identify specific areas for future cooperation.