Presymposium workshop on Space-Based Information for Disaster Preparedness and Risk Management
The event was inaugurated on second October by Dr. Andreas Schild, Director General of ICIMOD. He explained the objective of the workshop was to develop partnerships to engage the support of regional space agencies and international charters in contributing to capacity building and institutional strengthening. “Further we expect this workshop to result in the development of a regional framework for utilizing spaced-based information for disaster management.”
Dr. Amarnath Giriraj, coordinator of the pre-symposium introduced the structure and the theme of the two-day workshop. The outcomes expected are three-fold: 1) the group’s deliberation will be shared in the conclusion session of the International Symposium, 2) an action plan for utilizing space-based information will be developed, and 3) a regional partnership strengthened through pilot initiatives. Subsequently the participants introduced themselves and their organizations. The prestigious round of experts hails from eight different countries (Austria, Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan) and are representing governments, international organizations and universities involved in space-based disaster management.
Jason Kessler then presented NASA’s applied sciences natural disasters program. NASA perceives itself mainly as a research and scientific agency and is striving to improve its capacity to cater to the significant overlap between disaster response and scientific research and analysis. The so-called geo-societal expertise helps in managing the effects of earthquakes, hurricanes, wildland fires, tsunamis, and floods. Only those on the ground can help NASA understand what the applications needed really are. This is particularly relevant as NASA is in a process of planning its decadel missions. He closed by saying that “it is truly an honour to be here at the beginning of a formalized relationship in the region. I ask you to think about SERVIR and icimod as a way to feed your needs so we can be more efficient in what we do in the US.
Basanta Shrestha, Division Head of MENRIS, ICIMOD, highlighted ICIMOD’s work on spaced based information for disaster management with the emphasis on its role on the recent Pakistan Floods. The truth is “we see all the scientific Earth Observation information is so critical in the case of disasters- our challenge is to provide this information to the society in a meaningful way.” A key publication on the topic is “Geoinformation for Disaseter and Risk Management”. What needed to be done is to develop cooperation strategies, both with the affected communities and those countries and organizations with advanced experience. From a geospatial science context a new field of practice is also disaster preparedness, together with entities like UNU and ADPC or countries like India and China that have significant experience. “At the moment we are developing a pilot system for Nepal, and we are discussing with Bhutan on how to support regional cooperation in this context.
Mr. Shrestha closed with the goal of this workshop, namely to “bridge the gap between space technology and disaster management communities. If we find develop strategies to respond to disaster, I hope we can make a difference to the lives of people and our future generation.”
This platform will enable the participants of the different events during the Symposium to interact virtually, stay updated on the ongoing sessions and provide a room for debate and creative exchanges.
