Decision Support Centre for Natural Disaster Management
- Paper number
IAC-07-B1.6.01
- Author
Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Coauthor
Dr. P.S. Roy, National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Coauthor
Dr. V.S. Hegde, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Mr. G. Behera, National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Coauthor
Mr. M.V. Krishna Rao, National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Coauthor
Mr. Veerubhotla Bhanumurthy, National Remote Sensing Agency, India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
KEY WORDS: Disaster management, Satellites, Remote sensing, GIS, network connectivity, Decision support Natural disasters strike several parts of the globe at different seasons through out the year, resulting in enormous destruction of properties and untold human sufferings. India has been traditionally vulnerable to natural disasters like cyclone, drought, floods, earthquakes, forest fires, landslides besides recent Tsunami on account its unique geographical position, climate and geological setting. Each year disasters account for loss of millions of dollars in terms of social and community assets besides economic losses that are both immediate as well as long term in nature. In recent years, the focus of disaster management community is increasingly moving on to more effective utilization of emerging technologies such as remote sensing, Geographic Information System, and Satellite Communication, enabling to prepare for and mitigate potential impacts. Indian space infrastructure consisting of Indian Remote sensing satellites \& INSAT system is uniquely placed to provide services related to Disaster watch, Warning dissemination, Data collection, Monitoring and damage assessment, Vulnerability mapping, Communication support etc The recent tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean demonstrated the extent that space technologies can contribute to emergency response and disaster reduction. Keeping in view of the potential of space technology, Department of Space Govt. of India has launched a major programme for providing space based inputs to the nation for disaster management support. Decision Support Centre (DSC) was established under Disaster Management Support Programme by Department of Space as an operational service provider of space enabled inputs for use of State and Central govt. user departments during pre-disaster, during disaster and post-disaster phases. A VSAT based satellite communication network is in place for online transfer of space enabled inputs to the State and Central govt. user departments. At present the DSC is addressing natural disasters viz., Floods, Cyclone, Agricultural Drought, Forest fires, Earthquake and Landslides. As soon as information on the impending disaster is alerted by the identified nodal forecasting organizations, space and airborne data are acquired and analysed. First level information thus derived from space data are made available to the concerned State and Central agencies for taking relief actions on the ground. Further monitoring is undertaken on a regular basis for damage assessment. DSC also aims at building a comprehensive geo-spatial database of the disaster vulnerable regions of the country for more value addition and generation of user friendly products for decision making. DSC will have online interface with the concerned agencies for effective utilisation of ground observations with the space data for appropriate decision support. At present DSC is operationally providing information at national level on flood inundation progression, recession and damages in near real-time, agricultural drought situation reports, daily active forest fire locations besides event based assessment of impacts due to earthquake, landslides and cyclone. The paper mainly describes the infrastructure created and the services provided to the nation for natural disaster management with selected recent case studies successfully executed. It also discusses the future developments for early warning and rapid assessment for effective disaster management.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-B1.6.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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