Bangkok--18 Mar--AIT
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is playing a critical role in helping recovery efforts in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. The Cabinet Office of Japan has activated the International Charter and the Charter has appointed AIT’s Dr. Masahiko Nagai as project manager of this disaster for the International Charter on ‘Space and Major disasters’. International space organizations are working along with Dr. Nagai to provide maps and satellite images for rescue and relief operations.
Dr. Masahiko Nagai working on images of Japan following the disaster
“Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is normally the project manager of Japan, but since in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, the JAXA repository was down, it was decided that I would act as project manager,” Dr. Nagai reveals. Dr. Nagai is Associate Director at AIT’s Geoinformatics Center, and has been seconded to AIT by JAXA.
The International Charter is activated following a disaster and partner agencies immediately start sharing satellite information and data on the disaster. Dr. Nagai was also project manager during the tsunami that struck Indonesia last year.
Emergency satellite observation and rapid analysis is being coordinated by Dr. Nagai along with major international space agencies to provide critical support in the recovery operations. “The list of major affected areas has grown from five to eighteen since we began work,” Dr. Nagai says.
Dr. Lal Samarakoon, the Director of Geoinformatics Center said that a team of four research associates of Geoinformatics Center (GIC) at AIT is helping produce images for the International Charter and assist Dr. Nagai in his Project Management activities. “The image creation began the day following the disaster and would continue till the end of the week, when the situation is reevaluated,” Dr. Lal says. He adds that GIC was involved in emergency mapping since last year with the recognition of GIC/AIT as the Principal Data Analysis Node of Sentinel Asia, an initiative by number of space agencies in Asia including JAXA to help emergency mapping in the region.
Apart from JAXA, European Space Agency (ESA), United States Geological Survey (USGS), Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France, Centre for Satellite Based Crisis Information (DLR-ZKI) in Germany, Canadian Space Agency (CSA), China National Space Administration (CNSA), Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) of Thailand, and National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan, are among the agencies actively involved in helping for disaster relief operations.
AIT maps, which have been posted on the International Charter website include a map of Sendai airport, Ishinomaki Port, and mouth of Kyu-Kita Kamigawa among others.
Satellite images are helping detect changes in the landforms, particularly in the coastline in North West Japan. It is estimated that the coastline has moved by about four meters, resulting in a huge alteration in the landscape. Using change detection techniques, where the satellite image before the disaster is compared with the satellite image after the disaster, the difference in landforms becomes very apparent.
New threats are identified and new mapping helps guide rescue and relief teams to reach the destination. Since the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami is huge, new maps have to created in the affected areas. This is where satellite imagery assumes critical importance.