Natural Disaster Management on a Global Scale
- Paper number
IAC-04-P.E.4.04
- Author
Prof. U.R. Rao, Physical Research Laboratory, India
- Year
2004
- Abstract
Over the past 20 years alone, extreme natural disasters have caused the death of more than 3 million people and affected over 800 million globally. While natural disasters cannot be avoided, the impact of these hazards can be largely mitigated by evolving and adopting appropriate strategies for effective disaster watch, disaster warning and rescue measures, using space technology. The large number of remote sensing, meteorological and communication satellites, both operating and planned, as well as the low cost mini-micro satellite constellations which can be jointly operated even by a group of developing nations, can lead to the establishment of a robust global disaster management system. Evolution of an effective global disaster management system is of great importance and significance for making our planet earth, a much safer place to live in. The role of regional and international agencies in forging a united front to effectively manage natural disasters, both for reducing the impact and also for evolving long term measures to reduce the vulnerability of nations to disasters, will be discussed at the plenary meeting.
- Abstract document