Disaster Management Service
In 2016, the MBRSC became a member in the International Charter Space & Major Disasters, a world-wide collaboration between space agencies and organizations around the world, which supplies the disasters managements with instant Earth observation imagery and analysis. Thus, it enables them to respond rapidly and deal with these disasters effectively. In the same year, MBRSC joined the Sentinel Asia initiative which is responsible for assisting disasters managements in Asia Pacific regions through the applications of WEB-GIS and space-based technologies. KhalifaSat will effectively contribute to add more valuable services to these entities since its high resolution imagery can play a principal role in retrieving the required data to assess and analyze emergencies such as natural disasters including: hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, fires, floods, ocean waves, oil spills and landslides as well as sand storms. The after-damage per request images can also help the world-wide small and major cities to estimate the damage and the risk which are crucial to save lives. Moreover, these images with the aid of land cover classification techniques assist operators and planners to have a well prepared mitigation and risk plan to find the right resources to overcome the resulted damage. MBRSC is committed to participate in helping the countries that are affected by natural disasters. MBRSC’s main role under the Charter is to supply space-based data to help in managing potential crises towards securing a sustainable future for human kind.
Analyzing the impacts of Popocatepetl volcano is one of the studies conducted in this regard. It is located 70 km southeast of Mexico City, Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano is classified as a conical volcano with a base of 25 kilometers, with a crater of approximately 800 mx 640 m or 2,100 ft x 2,625 ft, rising about 5,460 meters, making it the second highest peak in Mexico. During the years 1994, 2000, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, the volcano experienced sporadic strong eruptions.