Space blog - Entries tagged as disaster

Satellites improving UK emergency response

Friday, April 1. 2011

You may have heard of the severe flooding taking place in the UK within the last few weeks, fortunately only as part of a simulation conducted by the Environment Agency for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly. Known as ‘Exercise Watermark’, the exercise was conducted to test the arrangements and response to severe, wide-area flooding across England and Wales.

The simulation formed the perfect opportunity for a DMCii led team of space experts to observe and participate in the practical aspects of a disaster to see how data and services from space could be used to improve UK emergency response.

During a disaster, such as severe flooding, space-based services can provide disaster response teams with up-to-date satellite maps and asset tracking capabilities to improve their situational awareness. Damaged or overloaded communications infrastructure on the ground can be reinforced using satellite telecommunications. ‘Exercise Watermark’ provided the team with a unique first-hand view of how a disaster is handled on the ground. Adina Gillespie, DMCii Project Manager pointed out:

“We know the contingency community doesn’t need to understand whizzy gadgetry, so now we’re asking ourselves how can we incorporate information from space assets seamlessly into their existing disaster response procedures”.

Rescue workers during the Bala lake simulation

Continue reading "Satellites improving UK emergency response"

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 15:35 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: disaster

, earth observation

, esa

, watermark

Satellite images aid Colombian flood relief

Friday, December 10. 2010

Heavy rains have caused major rivers in the Sucre/San Marcos region in Colombia to burst their banks, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. DMCii was activated via the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters to acquire images of the area giving rescue workers and officials a better estimate of the full impact of the flooding.

Images from 29 October 2010, revealing the full impact of the flooding. UK-DMC2 Image © DMCii, 2010. All rights reserved

The image above was provided to Augustin Codazzi Geographic Institute (IGAC) which coordinates Earth observation imagery with Colombian organisations involved in disaster response such as IDEAM, COCLCIENCIAS.

The extreme weather further caused a hillside to collapse near the Colombian city of Medellin and according to BBC reports yesterday, 24 bodies were recovered with more than 100 people missing and feared dead. Several hundred people, including Red Cross rescue workers, soldiers and police, are digging through the deep mud in an effort to find survivors. More than 20 sniffer dogs have also been brought in.

View Larger Map The area seen from Google maps

The extreme weather is attributed to the La Nina climatic phenomenon, which is caused by water currents that are colder than usual along the Pacific coast. According to the Washington Post, Colombia's government says 1.6 million people have either lost their homes or had homes suffer partial damage. About 70 percent to 80 percent live in inundated flood plains and have not abandoned them "because they don't want to leave their homes and belongings for fear of losing everything," Luz Amanda Pulido, Colombia's national disaster management office, said.

DMCii regularly responds to disasters throughout the world, providing up to date imagery to help authorities and relief agencies to plan disaster relief efforts.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 14:40 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: colombia

, disaster

, flooding

, satellite imaging

, space

, uk-dmc2

Satellites help flood-stricken Pakistan

Thursday, October 7. 2010

DMCii is playing an important role in the continuing disaster relief operations in flood-affected areas of Pakistan. DMCii satellite images are providing detailed snapshots of the flooded areas that show the current extent of the flooding at present compared to the initial impact that was widely reported in the media in August.

As reported by the BBC only yesterday, the floods in Pakistan are far from over. The image to the left shows the widespread flooding on August 16th. The image to the right was taken just yesterday (October 6th) and reveals the vast areas still submerged.

Following a request from the European Space Agency (ESA) via the International Charter : Space and Major Disasters, the UK-DMC2 satellite acquired the above 22m resolution image.

The Pakistan floods began in July following heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan. By United Nation estimates, over 21 million people have been affected by the flooding that at one point covered about one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area. Satellite images play a major part in estimating the extent of the disaster and aiding in the planning of relief efforts.

DMCii regularly responds to disasters throughout the world, providing up to date imagery to help authorities and relief agencies to plan disaster relief efforts.

Visit www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/ for more details on how to contribute to the disaster relief.

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 13:25 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: disaster

, dmcii

, flooding

, pakistan

, satellite imaging

Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite

Thursday, June 3. 2010

SSTL’s satellite imaging subsidiary DMCii has used its UK-DMC2 satellite to monitor the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

Satellite imagery is being supplied to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Geological Survey (USGS) following an activation of the International Charter : Space and Major Disasters.

UK-DMC2 Image (C) DMCii, 2010.

UK-DMC2 and its five siblings in the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) of satellites are able to provide daily imaging of the oil slick if required, detecting changes in the spill and tracking changes in direction. Current reports indicate that the oil click is moving towards the Florida coastline, having already reached land and affected Louisiana fisheries.

The DMC satellites use specially designed SSTL imaging payloads to image the Earth at resolutions between 4m and 32m across an ultra-wide 600km-plus swath (width).

Continue reading "Gulf of Mexico oil slick captured by satellite"

Posted by Robin Wolstenholme in In the news at 15:37 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: disaster

, dmcii

, gulf of mexico