DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Dr. Rajan Bikram RayamajhiJunior Resident

School of Public Health and Community MedicineB. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences

Dharan, Nepal2012

Contents

• Introduction• Disaster Types• Victims and Survivors• Second Disaster• Disaster Management Cycle• Disaster syndrome• Nuclear Disaster• Floods• Earthquake• Law/Acts in Nepal• Data on disasters in Nepal• Activities in Nepal• Few recent advances

International Day for Disaster Reduction is celebrated every year on October 13

Making Children and Young People partners for Disaster Risk Reduction

( 2011Theme)

The word disaster is derived from Middle French désastre and that from Old Italiano disastro, which in turn comes from the Greek Pejorative prefix δυσ-, (dus-) "bad" + ἀστήρ (aster), "star".

The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction of a star as a disaster

INTRODUCTION:

 A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources .

Disasters are not totally discrete events. Their possibility of occurrence, time, place and severity of the strike can be reasonably and in some cases accurately predicted by technological and scientific advances.

It has been established there is a definite pattern in their occurrences and hence we can to some extent reduce the impact of damage though we cannot reduce the extent of damage itself.

Disaster management usually refers to the management of natural catastrophes such as fire, flooding, or earthquakes.

Related techniques include crisis management, contingency management and risk management.

Disaster/emergency management is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks.

It also involves preparing for a disaster before it happens, disaster response (e.g. emergency evacuation, quarantine, mass decontamination, etc.)as well as supporting, and rebuilding society after natural or human-made disasters have occurred.

Effective emergency management relies on thorough integration of emergency plans at all levels of government and non-government involvement.

Activities at each level (individual, group, community) affect the other levels.

It is common to place the responsibility for governmental emergency management with the institutions for civil defense or within the conventional structure of the emergency services

Emergency Management which has replaced Civil defense, can be seen as a more general intent to protect the civilian population in times of peace as well as in times of war.

Civil Protection is widely used within the European Union and refers to government approved systems and resources whose task is to protect the civilian population, primarily in the event of natural and human-made disasters.

Crisis Management is the term widely used in EU countries and it emphasizes the political and security dimension rather than measures to satisfy the immediate needs of the civilian population.

Disaster risk reduction An academic trend is towards using the term is growing, particularly for emergency management in a development management context. This focuses on the mitigation and preparedness aspects of the emergency cycle

TYPES OF DISASTERS:

Natural Disasters. Man-made Disasters.

Natural Disasters

A. Natural Phenomena beneath Earth’s Surface: Earth Quake Tsunamis Volcanic Eruptions

B. Natural Phenomena at Earth’s Surface: Land Slides Avalanches

C. Natural Phenomena above Earth’s Surface:

Metrological (Hydrological) Phenomena:

Windstorms ( Cyclone, Typhoon, Hurricane) Tornadoes Hailstorms or Snow Storms Sea surges Floods Droughts

Biological Phenomena

Epidemics of disease Locust swarms ( group of insects/bees)

Man Made Disasters

Caused by Warfare

Conventional Nuclear Biological Chemical

Caused by accidents

Vehicular-air crafts, train, ship, four/two wheelers Drowning Collapse of building Explosions Fires Biological Chemicals including Poisoning

HURRICANE

The primary health hazard from hurricanes or cyclones lies in the risk of drowning from the storm surge associated with the landfall of the storm. Most deaths associated with hurricanes are drowning deaths.

Secondarily, a hazard exists for injuries from flying debris due to the high speed of winds.

Health prof. can be instrumental in providing direct emergency care to drowning and head injuries.

TORNADOES

The primary hazard from a health perspective in a tornado is the risk for injuries from flying debris. The high winds and circular nature of a tornado leads to the elevation and transport of anything that is not fastened down.

Most victims of tornadoes are affected by head and chest trauma due to being struck by debris or from a structural collapse.

Some individuals are injured while on the ground. Others are lifted into the air by the tornado and dropped at another location.

FLOOD

Floods may originate very quickly following a quick rain storm, or they may develop over a short period following an extended period of rain or quick snow melt.

The primary hazard from flooding is drowning.

Longer term health concerns from flooding is the damage of infrastructure followed by development of disease from contaminated water and lack of hygiene.

EARTHQUAKE

A significant global concern.

The primary health concern: Injuries arising from structural collapseMost injuries occur amongst individuals trapped at the

time of the earthquake

Well known prevention strategy is to prevent buildings from collapsing.

There is a recognized need to develop better rescue strategies for retrieving individuals from collapsed buildings

EXAMPLES MAY-JULY, 1999 INDO PAKISTAN WAR.

SEP 11, 2001: WORLD TRADE CENTER DESTROYED, USA.

DEC 26, 2004: INDIAN OCEAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI, MAG. 9.3,KILLED-2,80,000.

AUG 29,2005: HURRICANE KATRINA IN NEW ORLEANS.

JAN 12, 2010: EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI-KILLED 3,10,000, MAG. 7.0

VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS

Almost everyone in the population is affected by a disaster. No one is untouched by it. Those who suffer damage are called victims. The victims may die or live. Those who manage to live are called survivors. These survivors can be classified as:

Primary survivor – One who is exposed to the disaster first-hand and then survives. They are called ‘survivor victims’.

Secondary survivor – One who grieves the loss of primary victims. Example, a mother who lost her child, or a man who lost his friend.

Third level survivor – The rescue and relief personnel. These people are also affected due to the disaster as they are at the site of disaster and undergo almost the same mental trauma as the other victims.

Fourth level survivor – Reporters, Government personnel, traders, etc.

Fifth level survivor – People who read about or see the event in media reports.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE

1.Disaster phase

2. Response phase

3. Recovery/ Rehabilitation phase

4. Risk Reduction/ Mitigation phase

5. Preparedness phase

Disaster phase – The phase during which the event of the disaster takes place. This phase is characterized by profound damage to the human society. This damage / loss may be that of human life, loss of property, loss of environment, loss of health or anything else. In this phase, the population is taken by profound shock.

Response phase – This is the period that immediately follows the occurrence of the disaster. In a way, all individuals respond to the disaster, but in their own ways.

The ambulances and medical personnel arrive, remove the injured for transportation to medical camps or hospitals and provide first aid and life support. The public also take part in relief work.

One can even find injured victims help other injured ones. Almost everyone is willing to help. The needs of the population during this phase are immediate medical help, food, clothing and shelter

Recovery phase 

When the immediate needs of the population are met, when all medical help has arrived and people have settled from the hustle – bustle of the event, they begin to enter the next phase, the recovery phase which is the most significant, in terms of long term outcome.

It is during this time that the victims actually realize the impact of disaster. It is now that they perceive the meaning of the loss that they have suffered.

During this phase, they need resources and facilities so as to enable them to return back to their own homes, pursue their occupation, so that they can sustain their life on their own, as the help from the government and other non governmental organizations is bound to taper in due course.

Thus, they are provided with a whole new environment, adequate enough to pursue a normal or at least near normal life. This is called Rehabilitation.

Risk reduction phase 

During this phase, the population has returned to pre disaster standards of living. But, they recognize the need for certain measures which may be needed to reduce the extent or impact of damage during the next similar disaster.

This process of making the impact less severe is called Mitigation.

Preparedness phase – This phase involves the development of awareness among the population on the general aspects of disaster and on how to behave in the face of a future disaster.

This includes education on warning signs of disasters, methods of safe and successful evacuation and first aid measures.

THE SECOND DISASTER

The actual disaster results in a lot of damage to the population in terms of loss of life and property-‘first disaster’.

The impact of the first disaster sends another wave of damage triggered by chain of events relating to the first disaster by means of cause-and-effect, resulting in indirect damage to people remote from the original disaster. This can be called the ‘second disaster’.

Tsunami had caused loss in terms of life, damage to houses, etc. This is the first disaster.

The losses suffered by these industries results in lower wages and salaries to those involved in the fishing business.

These people cannot repay their loans, resulting in losses to money lenders, and so on.

Such events can also result in higher incidences of heart attacks, strokes, suicides and homicides.

This is called ‘second disaster’ and can be in greater magnitude than the ‘first disaster’. Proper rehabilitation and care of the victims of first disaster can break the chain of events leading to the second disaster.

PATTERNS OF MORTALITY AND INJURY

Disaster events that involve water are the most significant in terms of mortality.

Floods, storm surges, and tsunamis all have a higher proportion of deaths relative to injuries.

Earthquakes and events associated with high winds tend to exhibit more injuries than deaths.

The risk of injury and death is much higher in developing countries – at least 10 times higher because of little preparedness, poorer infrastructure.

DISPLACEMENT OF VICTIMS

Mass Shelters Shelter management:• Organized team (chain)• Sleeping area and necessities• Water and food handling• Sanitation (toilets, showers) • Special care to children and elderly • Health services (physical, mental)

DISASTER AND HEALTH In a major disaster water treatment plant, storage & pumping

facilities, & distribution lines could be damaged, interrupted or contaminated.

Communicable diseases outbreak due to:– Changes affecting vector populations (increase vector).– Flooded sewer systems .– The destruction of the health care infrastructure and– The interruption of normal health services geared towards

communicable diseases.

Injuries from the event Environmental exposure after the event (no shelter) Malnutrition after the event (feeding the population

affected) Excess Communicable Disease mortality following a

disaster Mental health (disaster syndrome)

INCUBATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Incubation periods of illnesses in returned travelers (Adapted from CDC Health Information for International Travel 2010)

Incubation Period Etiologies

< 2 weeks Malaria, dengue, typhoid, acute HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, acute diarrheal syndromes (E.coli, Campylobacter sp., salmonellosis, shigellosis), influenza enteroviruses, bacterial and viral pneumonias, sinusitis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, bacterial or viral meningitis, leptospirosis, anthrax, arbovirus encephalitis

2 – 6 weeks Malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, acute HIV, amebic liver abscess, leptospirosis, arbovirus, encephalitis

> 6 weeks Malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, HIV, filariasis, amebic liver abscess, rabies

DISASTER SYNDROME

This is an observed disorder that can be identified in disaster victims. As a matter of fact, about 75% of the population of the population is affected, immediately following the disaster (Duffy, 1998).

By the 10th week, there is a significant drop, and by the end of the first year, it drops to about 30 – 40% of the disaster affected population. It is also observed, that there is a 17% higher occurrence of long-term sequelae in the disaster affected population, as compared to other control populations (Roubonis, 1991).

The observation by Duffy of the widespread occurrence of symptoms following a disaster (75%) implicates that they are a normal reaction to an abnormal event .

The ensuing drop in the prevalence of symptoms in the following year shows that they are resolving ‘on the own’.

The rest who suffer continual symptoms may be the victims of a failure of resolution of the normal reaction.

The logical deduction from the observations of Duffy and Roubonis implicates that facilitation of the resolution can bring about lower psychiatric morbidity in the disaster affected population.

MENTAL WELLNESS

In any major disaster, people want to know where their loved ones are, nurses can assist in making links.

In case of loss, people need to mourn: Give them space

Find family friends or local healers to encourage and support them

Most are back to normal within 2 weeks

 About1% to 3%, may need additional help

Little attention is paid to the children.

Listen attentively to children without denying their feelings.

Give easy-to-understand answers to their questions.

In the shelter, create an environment in which children can feel safe and secure (e.g. play area).

NUCLEAR DISASTER

The problem with accidents/leaks with nuclear installation is that radioactive material might get discharged into the environment. This radioactive material could then enter human bodies.

The primary ways for these radioactive materials to enter human-bodies are:

through breathing of contaminated air through eating of contaminated food (including livestock animals –

which might have inhaled/eaten contaminated air/food) – including milk from a cow which has grazed on contaminated grass!!

through drinking of contaminated water through pores of skin etc. – which might be in contact with

contaminated air or water. This is very small enough to be considered as negligible.

First of all, stay indoors (unless, specifically asked to evacuate). By staying indoors, you are trying to reduce the level of your exposure to radio-active material. Similarly, bring your pets and livestock indoors/their stalls.

Prepare for possible evacuation.

Arrange for iodine tablets.

Do Not consume freshly harvested food products – because, it might have been contaminated.

Do not use water which was outside, as it might have been contaminated.

Unless you are competent and authorized to be working on the disaster relief/mitigation, do not drive/venture into the zone having risks. First of all, by entering into this area, you could be endangering yourself, and, secondly, you could be hampering other efforts which could include: movement of rescue vehicles, disaster response teams, and, maybe possible evacuation. Remember, a nuclear accident is not a show-item, that you have to watch. Stay away.

Care should be taken that you should be able to continue to receive further information that might be provided by the disaster management team.

While staying indoors, try to stay in closed rooms – away from doors and windows, in basements etc. All mechanisms of air-circulation should be turned off. Once again, the idea is to avoid contamination from radioactive material, which is there in the atmosphere and air. For this purpose, when you build your house, it should be so constructed, such that all openings should be totally coverable – to prevent the entry of contaminated air into your house. The material chosen for building should also be such that it can effectively screen contaminated material, e.g. timber is very poor in its ability to screen radiation. So, timber houses would be very risky – in terms of contamination.

One of the most active action that one can take is: take Iodine tables. Iodine tables actually saturate the thyroid glands, and thus, they prevent radio-active iodine (released due to the accident) from getting accumulated into the thyroid gland. Considering that, you might not want to get outdoors – during a disaster, to collect iodine tablets – it might be prudent to have a supply of such tablets, if you are staying in an area, which has a risk of seeing nuclear accident. It should be understood that ability to have uncontaminated proper food is more effective than having iodine. So, if uncontaminated food can be consumed, that should be given the first preference.

Iodine tablets also have severe side-effects. Hence, an overdose of iodine tables is not advisable. In general, older people should avoid iodine tables. The side-effects on them could be more harmful than the advantages that it might provide. Similarly, children and pregnant women should take a lower dosage.

If evacuation is to be involved, it should be done before the formation of the radioactive clouds. However, there is only so much that one can do in his/her individual capacity – in the sense that we would need to depend on the disaster management authority to advise as to when should we start evacuating. However, when evacuating, try to do so in an orderly manner, without clogging the roads etc. Once again, try to stay tuned to sources of traffic information, so that you can use the least congested routes to evacuate.

If you are not contaminated, you should NOT crowd the emergency centers and/or hospitals. As it is, dealing with nuclear radiation needs specialized knowledge, and, you don’t want to overburden the system, which would be already too stretched in case of a nuclear incident.

As soon as you are out of the effected area, or, are entering a non-contaminated area, you should:

– Discard your contaminated clothing (so that the virgin area does not get further contaminated)

– Wash those areas of your body, which were exposed, e.g. hands, face etc. If needed, take a bath. Needless to say, this step needs to be done using uncontaminated water. Imagine, you are just entering your house – from outside. Since the water stored in overhead tanks could also be contaminated, there is only a limited supply of decontaminated water. Hence, you should use your judgment, as to whether to take a whole-body wash, or, just washing the uncovered areas of your body.

Dosage of Iodine (WHO recommendation)Check your local centers for exact recommendation suitable for your locality Adults - older than 12 years: 1 tablet per day. Children aged 3 to 12 years: ½ tablet per day. Infants aged 1 month to 3 years: ¼ tablet per day. Neonates up to one month: one dose 1/8 tablet. Pregnant and breast-feeding women: two doses of 1 tablet each. Older people should not be given iodine tablets. They risk much more severe

side-effects, mostly due to hyperthyroidism – specially, if they have been staying in thyroid deficient regions.

For pregnant women, this dosage offers protection to her as well as her unborn child. However, after the birth of this child, the intake of iodine tables should be informed to the doctor, so that the doctor can pay special attention to the child’s thyroid. For breast-feeding women, their breast-milk contains some amount of iodine. However, this amount might not be sufficient for the breast-fed child. Hence, the child should be given his/her own dosage.

Tablet means: 100 mg iodine tablet, or, 130 mg potassium iodide

EARTHQUAKE

DUCK and COVER during the event.Instructions for evacuating buildings after the shaking has

ceased

a list of safe sites where people living in areas threatened by landslides during secondary tremors could be relocated

means of caring for young, elderly, sick, or infirm people

procedures for the safe shutdown of any machinery or processes

procedures for extinguishing any potential fire sources and making hazardous situations safer

a protocol for checking personnel and accounting for any missing persons

a plan for dispensing first aid and dealing with distressed people

procedures for checking and reporting damage

damage limitation measures

procedures for informing the workforce of whether and when it is safe to return to work or go home

There never are enough rescuers or medical providers in major disasters, communities vulnerable to earthquakes should establish ongoing programs to teach the public what to do when an earthquake occurs, such as first aid education, basic rescue training, fire drills. Simulation exercises can be carried out jointly by volunteer groups, local fire brigades, and hospitals. This training also might help to improve bystanders' responses during everyday emergencies.

FLOOD

Coastal floods: Caused by severe sea storms, or as a result of another hazard (e.g. tsunami or hurricane)

Catastrophic floods: Caused by a significant and unexpected event e.g. dam breakage, or as a result of another hazard(e.g earthquake or volcanic eruption)

Muddy floods: it is generated by run off on crop land.

The damage due to flood may vary with respect to the magnitude of the flood.

Thus we can classify the effects as:

Primary effects: Physical damage can range anywhere from bridges, cars, buildings,

sewer systems, roadways, canals and any other type of structure. Casualties: People and livestock die due to drowning. It can also lead

to epidemics and diseases.

Secondary effects: Water supplies, contamination of water,Clean drinking water

becomes scarce. Diseases: Unhygienic conditions & spread of  water borne

diseases. Crops and food supplies: Shortage of food crops can be caused

due to loss of entire harvest.

Tertiary/long-term effects: Economic: rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price

increase , temporary decline in tourism etc.

NEPAL Nepal is a landlocked country lying between India and China- 147,181

km2. Divided into 3 ecological regions: ‘Terai’ in the south, the ‘Hills’ in the middle and ‘Mountains’ in the north.

The Terai region is low-lying and highly prone to hydrological disasters and similarly the hills and mountain areas are highly vulnerable to landslides and earthquakes.

From geographic perspective Nepal is located in the middle portion of the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region. Nepal displays extreme variations in natural environment ranging from tropical plain to alpine heights with decreasing elevations from north to south.

It has a unique altitudinal variation from 60 meters from mean sea level at Jhapa in the south to 8,848 meters at Mt. Everest in the north – big variation within a short horizontal distance of only 90 to 120 km

The Himalaya is the most active and fragile mountain range in the world as is still rising and its rocks are under constant stress as the northward –moving Indian Plate pushes against the more stable Tibetan block. This pressure forces the Himalaya to rise and move horizontally southward along major thrusts. The active nature of the range is also manifested by frequent earthquakes.

Triggering factors such as rainfall and earthquakes make the mountains highly vulnerable to landslides.

There are more than 6,000 rivers and streams in Nepal. Each year, flood causes immense damage to agricultural land, crops, human settlements and other physical properties.

According to a report from (ICIMOD), glacier lakes in the mountains are becoming very large due to melting of glaciers.

There are more than 20 potentially dangerous lakes in Nepal that can affect tens of thousands of people severely in the mountains and down-stream areas.

Not only socio-economic factors but also the geological, topographical and climatic conditions expose Nepal to multiple hazards, most prominently earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, thunderbolts, windstorms, hailstorm and avalanches.

According to official disaster statistics, out of the total number of affected families floods & landslides and windstorms & hailstorms have affected most followed by fires and epidemics.  

LAW/ACTS IN NEPAL

The legal framework for disaster management has a long history in Nepal with the Natural Calamity (Relief) Act 2039 promulgated in 1982. This Act allocated the responsibility for preparing and responding to disasters in Nepal to the Government.

The Act, for the first time in history of Nepal, provided for a disaster management administrative structure in the country.

National Action Plan on Disaster Management 2005 was presented at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe, Japan from 18-22 January, 2005

Nepal is fortunate to have started two very important initiatives recently, namely a) formulation of the National Policy for Disaster risk Management and, b) preparation of a new legislation for Disaster risk Management to replace the existing Natural Calamity (Relief) Act, 1982.

Both these initiatives are focused on internalizing the shift from a response-based national system to emphasizing the disaster risk reduction and effective preparedness approach.

It is hoped that this National Strategy on DRM will be able to guide the review process for ensuring the required level of consensus among the three policy documents.

At the central level, it constituted the Central Disaster Relief Committee (CDRC) with the Minister of Home Affairs as the Chair.

The apex body for disaster management comprises the Secretaries of the ministries of

Finance Defense Local Development Physical Planning and Works Health and Population Agriculture and Cooperatives Education and Sports Environment, Science and TechnologyLand Reform and Management Industry Commerce and Supplies Foreign Affairs Water Resources Information and Communication Forest and Soil Conservation Women, Children and Social Welfare

and Representatives from

Nepal Army Nepal Police Nepal armed Police Nepal Red Cross Society Nepal Scout Social Welfare Council Department of Mines and Geology Department of Water-Induced Disasters Department of Hydrology and Meteorology.

Following a disaster, the CDRC meets and when necessary to address the needs of the affected population and on matters related to all sectors (e.g. food, health, shelter, water & Sanitation, etc.). Because of the devastating effects of the annually recurrent floods, CDRC has been meeting regularly at least twice a year - before the floods to take stock of the flood preparedness status and to augment it, and immediately after to evaluate the response.

The Natural Calamity (Relief) Act, 1982 provides for the establishment of regional committee as and when required. During the 1988 earthquake affecting eastern Nepal and the 1993 floods in south-central Nepal.

Regional Service Centre was established respectively at Biratnagar and Simara that provided relief coordination demonstrating the usefulness of setting up regional committees to coordinate relief activities related to more than one district.

However, these centers were closed after the emergency operations were over.

CDRC IN REGIONAL LEVEL

CDRC IN DISTRICT LEVELDistrict Disaster Relief Committee (DDRC) is a permanent outfit at the district level to coordinate relief and preparedness.

DDRC is chaired by the Chief District Officer who is the main administrative functionary to maintain law and order at the district level.

Other members to DDRC are the representatives of the district level offices of the various public sector agencies such as district water supply office, district education office and district health office.

The Local development Officer– the district level officer of the Ministry of Local development, who coordinates development works with the elected bodies at the district level, is the member-secretary of DDRC.

NATURAL DISASTERS IN NEPAL FROM 1980-2010

No. of events 78

No. of people killed 11,112

Average killed per year 358

No. of people affected 51,65,810

Average affected per year 1,66,639

Economic damage (US $ x 1000) 13,51,229

Economic damage (US $ x 1000) 43,588

TOP 10 NATURAL DISASTERS

DISASTER DATE AFFECTED ( NO. OF PEOPLE)

Flood 2004 8,00,015

Flood 2007 6,40,706

Flood 1993 5,53,268

Flood 1987 3,51,000

Drought 2009 3,03,000

Earthquake 1988 3,01,016

Flood 2002 2,65,865

Flood 2009 2,57,786

Earthquake 1980 2,40,600

Flood 1983 2,00,050

TOP 10 NATURAL DISASTERSDISASTER DATE KILLED (NO. OF PEOPLE)

EPIDEMIC 1991 1,334

FLOOD 1993 1,048

FLOOD 1996 768

EARTHQUAKE 1988 709

FLOOD 1981 650

EPIDEMIC 1992 640

EPIEMIC 2002 472

EPIDEMIC 2009 314

FLOOD 1998 260

EPIDEMIC 2000 250

DesInventar is a disaster inventory software produced by the National Society for earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) with financial support from United.

The UNDP and UN/OCHA jointly assisted the preparation of District Disaster Management Action Plan for Chitwan district. It is a pilot project and Chitwan district was especially chosen because of its vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquake and flood. 

UNDP Nepal to establish a systematic data inventory of natural disaster events in Nepal. It is expected to serve as a tool for disaster risk mitigation strategy for the country.

It is designed to deploy at very short notice (12-24 hours) to the field anywhere in the world. It also aims at strengthening national and regional disaster response capacity. 

ACTIVITIES IN NEPAL

RECENT ADVANCES

GIS and DMIS

Recently Imaging instruments like ASTER, MODIS and MISR are used by NASA's Terra space platform, each offer a unique view of disaster zone.

Together, these views produce complementary multispectral and multiangular sets of data valuable for evaluating damage and planning for reconstruction.

Picture taken from ASTER which shows the flood in Honduras

ASTER: The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is an imaging instrument onboard Terra, the flagship satellite of NASA's Earth Observing System .

It is a cooperative effort between NASA, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and Japan Space Systems . ASTER data is used to create detailed maps of land surface temperature, reflectance, and elevation.

The coordinated system of EOS satellites, including Terra, is a major component of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the .

The goal of NASA Earth Science is to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth as an integrated system, its response to change, and to better predict variability and trends in climate, weather, and natural hazards.

MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS AM) satellites.

These data will improve our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere. MODIS is playing a vital role in the development of validated, global, interactive Earth system models able to predict global change accurately enough to assist policy makers in making sound decisions concerning the protection of our environment.

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Thank you