On 10 September 2019, 60 participants of the ninth annual UN-SPIDER Beijing conference and officials from Chinese government organizations attended the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” project manager training.
The International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” has been activated for floods in Brazil by the Brazilian Disaster and Risk Management National Centre (CENAD). The country’s Ministry of National Integration is acting as project manager for the activation.
Mudslides and floods triggered by sudden rain over the western area of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have caused the Ibirapuita, Ibicui and Uruguai rivers to break their banks and cause widespread flooding.
As a follow-up activitity to its 2013 Technical Advisory Mission to the Western African country, UN-SPIDER conducted a week-long Institutional Strengthening Mission (ISM) to Ghana. The mission followed an invitation of the Government of Ghana and was hosted by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).
To discuss a proposal for NADMO and other government agencies to establish a technical, inter-institutional Earth Observation Team
To identify potential applications of the Airbus Digital Terrain Model
To support NADMO in its application to become an Authorised User of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters
The mission consisted of two parts:
Inter-institutional Seminar
The seminar brought together nearly 50 participants from several government agencies in including NADMO, the Ghana Geological Survey Authority, the Survey Mapping Division, the Police Department, the Land Use Spatial Planning Authority, the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Irrigation Authority, the Water Resources Commission, the Ghana Armed Forces and the National Fire Service as well as the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems of the University of Ghana.
The seminar allowed participants to exchange information on their activities, on joint efforts with NADMO and on the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems in their routine tasks.
Training course
The training course was organized and attended by 25 participants from several government agencies and the University of Ghana. Participants were trained in the use of specific step-by-step procedures to process satellite imagery to map the extent of floods using as an example the recent floods in the White Volta River in the northern region of Ghana. Participants were also trained on the use of another step-by-step procedure to map the comparative impacts of droughts on vegetation in the central region of Ghana. These procedures make use of open satellite imagery and open source software and will enhance the capability of government agencies to generate maps useful to monitor floods and droughts as well as in early warning systems. UN-SPIDER took the opportunity to present to NADMO more than 40 gigabytes of optical and radar, satellite imagery and maps it generated for this mission, covering the entire Republic of Ghana in case of droughts.
Mission Outcome:
A proposal was successfully made to the International Charter Space and Major Disasters for NADMO to become an Authorised User of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters
The establishment of an inter-institutional remote sensing and disaster management team called “The Ghana eaRth obsErvATion Technologies Team (GREAT Team)” which will help in designing and managing an Integrated Decision Support System (IDeSS) for disaster risk management and emergency response
Participants of the four-day training were able to generate their own maps of flood extents which recently occurred on the White Volta River, using radar images from Sentinel-1
Participants generated more than 400 time series maps from MODIS Terra data for drought monitoring using the Standard Vegetation Index (SVI) and Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) methods
Mission Outlook
NADMO to carry out two additional training courses with the support of the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute and the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems of the University of Ghana to strengthen the skills of the team. These two training courses should give team members a better overview of the software tools used in the procedures (SNAP software developed by the European Space Agency and R Studio).
The technical Inter-Institutional Team to start the routine generation of maps of the Vegetation Index or the Standard Vegetation Index to track areas that may be affected by drought and incorporate this procedure into the drought early warning system.
The Technical Inter-Institutional Team to elaborate additional maps of the floods that took place in August and September 2018 and their evolution and discuss how to use this historical information to improve disaster preparedness efforts on the basis of this and other floods.
NADMO to assess the feasibility of working with UN-SPIDER and Airbus in the generation of maps of areas susceptible to landslides and to tidal waves or storm surges.
NADMO to complete the steps regarding the incorporation of NADMO as an Authorised User of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters.
The International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” has been activated on 18 September after Typhoon Manghut hit the northern coast of Luzon in the Philippines with winds of up to 180mph. This has made Manghut one of the strongest storms in decades.
The high winds also churned rough seas as it moved across Luzon, producing 30 feet-high waves, damaging forest, dragging electricity supplies and harming a farmland in Cagayan.
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters has been activated for an earthquake and eruption of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, USA on Monday.
The volcano erupted on 4 May alongside a 6.9 magnitude earthquake, spraying lava up to 70 metres and causing the evacuation of 2000 individuals, in addition to the destruction of several buildings. Dangerous levels of toxic sulfur dioxide from the lava flows also present a hazard. Residents are urged not to return to hazardous areas until the risk has subsided.
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