UN space-based disaster management program
| 10.26.2007 | 10:30:46 | Views: 3145 | ID:
October 26 '07: Last year the United Nations established the "United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response" (UN SPIDER) to facilitate international response to disasters using satellite technology. In a press release, UN officials said that using satellite technology, developing nations and communities in remote areas would have greater access to sensitive real-time information while international relief organizations would have greater situational awareness.
On its website, the UN said the SPIDER program is the first of its kind to "focus on the need to ensure access to and use of (space-based information) ... during all phases" of a disaster, "including the risk reduction phase which will significantly contribute to an increasing reduction in loss of lives and property."However, during a committee hearing, UN representatives said that more money and resources was needed to help push the project forward. Those additional resources would help with response operations similar to the technology used by the SPIDER during the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
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