Abstract
Abstract. Over the course of the last decade, large populations living in vulnerable areas have led to record damages and substantial loss of life in mega-disasters ranging from the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and Haiti earthquake of 2010; the catastrophic flood damages of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Tohoku tsunami of 2011, and the astonishing extent of the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2009. These major catastrophes have widespread and long-lasting impacts with subsequent recovery and reconstruction costing billions of euros and lasting years. While satellite imagery is used on an ad hoc basis after many disasters to support damage assessment, there is currently no standard practice or system to coordinate acquisition of data and facilitate access for early recovery planning and recovery tracking and monitoring. CEOS led the creation of a Recovery Observatory Oversight Team, which brings together major recovery stakeholders such as the UNDP and the World Bank/Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, value-adding providers and leading space agencies. The principal aims of the Observatory are to: 1. Demonstrate the utility of a wide range of earth observation data to facilitate the recovery and reconstruction phase following a major catastrophic event; 2. Provide a concrete case to focus efforts in identifying and resolving technical and organizational obstacles to facilitating the visibility and access to a relevant set of EO data; and 3. Develop dialogue and establish institutional relationships with the Recovery phase user community to best target data and information requirements; The paper presented here will describe the work conducted in preparing for the triggering of a Recovery Observatory including support to rapid assessments and Post Disaster Needs Assessments by the EO community.
Highlights
Over the course of the past decade, the world has seen an unprecedented number of disasters, which are growing both in number and severity of impact
In the last decade we have witnessed a series of catastrophic events: the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami and Haiti earthquake of 2004 and 2010; the catastrophic flood damages of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Tohoku tsunami of 2011, and the astonishing extent of the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2009
A single, coordinated approach supported by advance planning will greatly increase the efficiency and impact of actions taken following major events. These lessons have led to the creation of the Recovery Observatory Oversight Team (ROOT), which developed a proposal that was presented to the CEOS Plenary in November 2013, further developed in early 2014, and approved at the CEOS SIT-29 in April 2014
Summary
Over the course of the past decade, the world has seen an unprecedented number of disasters, which are growing both in number and severity of impact. Seeking to optimise the use of collected data, and understanding the value of implementing systematic observations for several years, CNES led the creation of a platform to gather and continue to make available Earth observation data following the devastating Haiti earthquake of January 2010 This project, named KalHaiti, has made great progress over the past four years, and has allowed CNES to identify lessons learned that underscore the importance of working before a catastrophic event takes place, and of working collectively, as a community. A single, coordinated approach supported by advance planning will greatly increase the efficiency and impact of actions taken following major events These lessons have led to the creation of the Recovery Observatory Oversight Team (ROOT), which developed a proposal that was presented to the CEOS Plenary in November 2013, further developed in early 2014, and approved at the CEOS SIT-29 in April 2014. A subsidiary benefit for CEOS and satellite data providers will be the development of specific approaches and protocols for using satellite data to support disaster recovery, and raising awareness with the Disaster Risk Management community of the benefits of a satellite-based approach
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