Heavy rain hammered Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan since last week, leaving between 236 to 241 people dead as a result of floods throughout the country. The country being hit often by floods and other natural disasters have been captured on satellite images by various satellite remote sensors such as QuickBird, IKONOS, Modis, Landsat and other sensors to help government and emergency management agencies to assess and monitor damage from the floods. Satellite Images below captured disasters that hit Pakistan in 2005.

MODIS Satellite Sensor -

Pakistan Floods (February 2005)

Image Credit: NASA

QuickBird Satellite - Balakot, Pakistan

EarthQuake 7.6 Magnitude (October 8, 2005 )

The floods having affected 2400km of land affecting up to 2 million people and 250,000 displaced from their homes. President Gen. Pervez directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to carry out damage assessment of the total areas affected by the floods and to supply relief and rescue efforts to those in need.

Damage and Recovery Assessments for Floods

Remote Sensing gives state and government agencies the ability to view the damage from multiple vantage points. The spatial resolution of an image determines the ability to view individual features such as buildings and bridges. It also affects the ability to monitor and assess damage conditions, and depends on the nature of the hazard itself.

Government and local communities can better prepare for the next natural disaster by learning from past experiences. Satellite Imagery and GIS, can enable emergency management and community planners to better prepare for natural disaster impacts on their region. Estimates of the particular land cover classes that may be inundated by flooding can enable planners to better assess their region’s risk and vulnerability. With this type of information, planners are better able to prioritize and target mitigation and preparedness activities for their area.

This entry was posted by Monique Romeijn on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm and is filed under QuickBird, Remote Sensing and Image Processing, Satellite Image Data, Satellite Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.