Satellite remote sensing data can provide crucial information for managing natural disasters. How can developing countries access and make use of these data? And what must policymakers do to prepare?
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The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is a small constellation of remote sensing satellites, built by UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology but individually owned by partner countries including Algeria, China, Nigeria and Turkey.
The DMC satellites provide daily coverage of the earth and were specifically designed to support the logistics of disaster relief. Each partner country gives five per cent of its capacity to free daily imaging of disaster areas for aid agencies. The group as a whole is also signed up to the International Charter for Space in Major Disasters.
Sentinel Asia, a project led by the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum, provides a platform for promoting remote sensing data for disaster management and for sharing information on disasters in the Asia-Pacific region.
The project draws on data from a range of satellite sensors, including MODIS and AMSR-E among others, to distribute imagery and publish information on wildfires and floods as they occur. Sentinel Asia also offers training and coordinates emergency observation requests for a number of satellites.