NASA officials offered maps of potential power outages, high-resolution optical data that mapped over 4,000 landslides, pictures of floods taken by astronauts on the International Space Station, flood extent maps from the European Space Agency and a lot more.
The following two images show you the level of detail that NASA resources are able to provide. The first one is from April 20, before the floods ravaged Porto Alegre in Brazil.
The second image is of the same place on May 6, after the floods.
The utility of the resources and the coordination has prompted NASA, an independent agency funded by the US government, to device a new system that would help authorities across the world with aid for victims of disasters, natural or man-made.
The team behind NASA’s Disaster Response Coordination System gathers science, technology, data, and expertise from across the agency and provides it to emergency managers. The new system will be able to provide up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events, the website said.
“The risk from climate-related hazards is increasing, making more people vulnerable to extreme events,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “This is particularly true for the 10% of the global population living in low-lying coastal regions who are vulnerable to storm surges, waves and tsunamis, and rapid erosion. NASA’s disaster system is designed to deliver trusted, actionable Earth science in ways and means that can be used immediately, to enable effective response to disasters and ultimately help save lives.”
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Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
