Managing the natural disasters from space technology inputs

Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as Cyclones, Floods, Tornadoes and Droughts or of having geological nature such as earthquakes and volcanoes, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. With tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with high population density, poverty, illiteracy and lack of infrastructure development, developing countries are more vulnerable to suffer from the damaging potential of such disasters. Though it is almost impossible to completely neutralise the damage due to these disasters, it is, however possible to (i) minimise the potential risks by developing disaster early wanting strategies (ii) prepare developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters, (iii) mobilize resources including communication and telemedicinal services and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. Space borne platforms have demonstrated their capability in efficient disaster management. While communication satellites help in disaster wanting, relief mobilisation and telemedicinal support, Earth observation satellites provide the basic support in pre-disaster preparedness programmes, in-disaster response and monitoring activities, and post-disaster reconstruction. The paper examines the information requirements for disaster risk management, assess developing country capabilities for building the necessary decision support systems, and evaluate the role of satellite remote sensing. If describes several examples of initiatives from developing countries in their attempt to evolve a suitable strategy for disaster preparedness and operational framework for the disaster management using remote sensing data in conjunction with other collateral information. It concludes with suggestions and recommendations to establish a worldwide network of necessary space and ground segments towards strengthening the technological capabilities for disaster management and mitigation. (C) 1997 International Astronautical Federation. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.