EIGEO Team activated to support disaster response efforts in Dominican Republic and Haiti

The President of the National Emergency Commission of the Dominican Republic activated the Inter-Institutional Geo-Spatial Information Team (EIGEO) to generate relevant information to support emergency relief efforts in areas affected by hurricane Matthew in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti.  

The EIGEO team was officially established in 2013 by the National Emergency Commission at the recommendation of UN-SPIDER.  The team brings together professionals from 14 ministries, government agencies, universities and NGOs who have been trained on the use of geographic information systems and remote sensing applications.

Maps and relevant information generated by the EIGEO team will be used by government officers coordinating disaster response efforts in the National Emergency Operations Center that has been set up by the National Emergency Commission and the Civil Defense of the Dominican Republic since several decades ago for this purpose.  

As a way to support disaster response efforts, the National Emergency Commission requested the activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters on 05 October 2015.  At the request of UNOOSA, the Italian Space Agency has tasked the COSMO Skymed to acquire radar images of specific areas affected by the hurricane.

More information and maps generated by EIGEO can be found here.