Sentinel Asia
The Sentinel Asia initiative is an international collaboration among space agencies, disaster management agencies, and international agencies for applying remote sensing and Web-GIS technologies to support disaster management in the Asia-Pacific region.
Description
Asian disaster statistics indicate that the Asia-Pacific region suffers disproportionately from natural disasters. Over the last 30 years, the region has been impacted by some 37% of disasters recorded worldwide, and accounts for 57% of global fatalities and 89% of the total victims associated with such disasters. Given this scenario, our goal is to showcase earth observation technologies as key tools for disaster risk management in the Asia-Pacific region.
Specifically, Sentinel Asia aims to:
- Improve safety in society through the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) combined with space technologies;
- Improve the speed and accuracy of disaster preparedness and early warning;
- Improved disaster assessment and understanding of their impact and physical extent;
- Minimize the number of victims and social/economic losses resulting from disasters;
- Contribute to the establishment of rehabilitation plans.
Many of these goals are possible only through the wide-area and fast response collection of images and other data which can be acquired by Earth observing satellites.
Did the Sendai Framework change or contribute to changes in your activities/organization? If so, how?
The Sendai Framework provides a roadmap to reduce disaster risk by 2030. It calls for the promotion of real time access to reliable data, make use of space and in situ information, including geographic information systems (GIS), and use information and communications technology innovations to enhance measurement tools and the collection, analysis and dissemination of data. The work of Sentinel Asia is aligned with this and other aspects of the Sendai Framework.
What led you to make this commitment/initiative?
What was your position before making this Voluntary Commitment / prior to the Sendai Framework?
We are motivated by the benefits from rapid technological advances and how data has been delivered more quickly via the internet as easy-to-interpret disaster-related information. Sentinel Asia is not designed to replace already active efforts by many of our regional agencies in delivery of information to emergency services. Rather, it aims to expand such efforts and make such data available to all countries and many more people in the region, particularly in countries that do now their own satellite reception facilities. Through such a backbone, information about disasters could begin to be delivered more efficiently through the ’world-wide-web’, even outside national borders, in ’real-time’ or ’near real-time’, and used as early-warning, or as post-disaster information by various countries and relevant end-user agencies.
Deliverables and Progress report
Deliverables
Deliverables are the end-products of the initiative/commitment, which can include issuance of publications or knowledge products, outcomes of workshops, training programs, videos, links, photographs, etc.
The purpose of the Emergency Observation Request (EOR) is to
appropriately and efficiently communicate the nature, timing and location of a disaster event, to allow an assessment of how the Sentinel Asia framework can best support in terms of disaster assessment and response planning, and to activate supporting
agencies as required. It represents an appeal for assistance from the disaster-affected country and is the fundamental instrument around which the Sentinel Asia framework is organized and executed.
Organizations and focal points
Implementing Organization(s)
Focal points
Partners
- Center of Technology for Natural Resources Inventory
- National Security Division
- Nepal Department of Water Induced Disaster Management
- Mines and Geosciences Bureau
- Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology
- Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre
- National Applied Research Laboratories
- Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing
- Korea Aerospace Research Institute
- Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency
- University of Yamaguchi
- Hokkaido University
- Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Science
- Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management
- Myanmar Information Management Unit
- Ministery of Home and Cultural Affairs, Department of Disaster Management, Bhutan
- World Wide Fund For Nature - Pakistan
- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Lao People's Democratic Republic)
- Sichuan University
- Institute of Geography, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
- National Institute of Aeronautics and Space
- National Disaster Management Institute
- International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University 東北大学 災害科学国際研究所
- Ministry of Disaster Management
- Keio University
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, the
- Pacific Community
- Research Center for Disaster Mitigation, Institute of Technology Bandung
- Department of Hydrology and Meteorology
- Ministry of Emergency Situations (Armenia)
- Tokyo Institute of Technology 東京工業大学
- Geoinformatics Center of the Asian Institute of Technology, the
- Manila Observatory, the
- Earth Observatory of Singapore - Nanyang Technological University
- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Viet Nam)
- National Agency for Disaster Management (Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana)
- National Disaster Centre
- National Disaster Management Office (Fiji)
- Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
- International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
- Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
- International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management
- Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation
- National Disaster Reduction Centre of China
- Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP)
- Kobe University 神戸大学
- University of Tokyo 東京大学
- Infrastructure Development Institute
- Indian Space Research Organisation
- Phillipines Atmospheric Services Administration
- United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
- National Committee for Disaster Management (Cambodia)
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Viet Nam)
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
- Bureau of Meteorology (Australia)
- China Earthquake Administration
- Japan International Cooperation Agency
- International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
- Geoscience Australia
- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Asian Disaster Reduction Center
- National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention
- Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
- World Bank, the
- World Food Programme
- National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (Philippines)
