Disaster Management Based on SpaceTechnology: Perspective Bangladesh

By
Ministry of Disaster
Management and Relief

Bangladesh is prone to Natural Disasters• Geographic Location• Unplanned Urbanization• Dense population• Global warming

Context of the Presentation
 Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone highly populated
countries of the world.
 Disasters like flood, cyclone, storm surge, river erosion, drought
water-logging etc. often cause significant losses of lives anddamages of properties.
 Together with phenomena of climate change, global warming
etc., crisis of food, degradation of environment impose greatchallenges.
 Remote sensing technology is being utilized in the country forthe last four decades for acquiring Geoinformation in the country.

Major Disasters in Bangladesh

Year

Disaster Death1988
1988
1989
1991
1994-95
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001

Flood
1517
Cyclone5704
Drought
Cyclone138868Drought
Tornado545
Cyclone
550
Flood
918
Flood
200
Flood and 85
TornadoFlood747
Tornado
56
Flood
3000
Cyclone3500
Cyclone
172

2004
2005
2007
2007
2009

% Flooded Area

Major Disasters over thelast three decades:

Flood Affected Areas

8060
402001954 1955 1970 1954 1971 1987 1988 2000 2004 2007

Relative
distribution ofmajor disasters
events inBangladesh

Water-logging has become permanent
disaster in some part of the country

Source: website

Flood & others
75%
Drought 8%
Cyclone 17%

Hazards and Risk Profile of Bangladesh
HazardTypeFlood Flash Drought Cyclone, Earthquake
Floodtidal surge,
salinity%%%%%

Vulnerable
61
23
Total land area = 147,570 km2
land area

4632

70%

462780%Total Population = 142.3 Millions

Vulnerable
population

7124

EVOLUTION OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT
IN BANGLADESH
70’s

Response oriented disaster management: 1970 Gorkey Cyclone, 300,000 people killed1972 Cyclone preparedness program established

80’s – 90’sEmerging DM approaches: 1987 -88 huge flood, FAP formulated
1991 cyclone, 138000 people killed, shifting from disaster response topreparedness
1993 constitution of Disaster Management Bureau
1997 Drafting of standing order on disasters (SOD)1998 prolonged flood

2000 +Forward towards a comprehensive system including Risk Reduction
2000 Comprehensive Disaster Management program formulated andlaunched in 2004
2005 Ministry of Food and Disaster Management renamed with newDM vision 2006 Revised AoB for MOFDM
2010 Revised SOD, National Plan for Disaster Management
 DM Act 2012, MoDMRVISION
The disaster management vision of the Governmentof the People's Republic of Bangladesh is :to reduce the risk of people, especially the poorand the disadvantaged,
from the effects of natural, environment and humaninduced hazards to a manageable and acceptable
humanitarian level andto have in place an efficient emergency responsemanagement system capable of handling large
scale disaster.

MissionTo achieve a paradigm shift in disastermanagementfrom conventional response and relief practice toa more comprehensive risk reduction culture,
andto promote food security as an important factor
in ensuring the resilience of communities tohazards

D M Institutions in Bangladesh.

National Disaster Management Council (PM)Inter-Ministerial Disaster
Management Coordination
Committee

National Disaster Management
Advisory Committee

National Disaster Management
Coordination GroupDM Cell, PM’s Office
Activated During large Scale
Disaster, Managed by AFD

BMD
Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR)

Disaster Management
Training & ResearchInstitute(DMTRI)PROPOSED

CyclonePreparedness
Program (CPP)

Department of Disaster
Management (DDM)

Comprehensive Disaster
Management Program(CDMP)SPARSONDRCC

National Disaster
Management Volunteers(NDMV) PROPOSEDDistrict Disaster ManagementCommittee(DDMCC)
Zone / Upazila

Union /Communiity

City Corporation
Disaster ManagementCommittee

Municipal Disaster
ManagementCommittee

Upazila Disaster
Management Committee

Village
Union Disaster
Management CommitteUnion Sub-Committes
1.Early Warning Committee
2.First Aid Committee
3.Search and Resque Committee
4.Camp Management Committee

Space Technology in Bangladesh: Present
SPARRSO -The National Space Agency
LGEDGSBSOBBBSBMD
Department of Forest
Department of Fisheries
Forest Research InstituteFisheries Research Institute
Disaster Management Bureau
Bangladesh Water Development
Board
Universities…….

CEGIS
IWM
CDMPNGOs

Space Technology in Bangladesh: PresentOrganizations using space technology fordisaster monitoring and management

SPARRSO
BMD

CEGIS

Department of Disaster Management

IWM

Bangladesh Water Development Board

CDMP

Some other organizations have been using RS
technology for studying specific events of disasterStatus of Space Technology based
Monitoring of Disasters in Bangladesh
DisasterPlayerGovt.

Space based
operationalsystem
Non-Govt.

CycloneSPARRSO, BMD

SPARRSO, BMD

Flood

SPARRSO

CEGIS

SPARRSO*Erosion andBankline shifting

SPARRSO

CEGIS

Drought

SPARRSO

Under
development
by SPARRSOWater-logging

SPARRSO

Some other organizations have been using RS
technology for studying specific events of disasterDivisions of SPARRSO
16 Divisions
Agriculture Division
Agro & Hydro Meteorology Division
Atmospheric Physics Division
Cartographic Division
Fisheries Division
Forestry Division
Geology Division
Oceanography Division
Water Resources Division……………………

Facilities at SPARRSOAdvancedphotographic
laboratory
Ground survey
equipment
GIS laboratory
Image
processing
Laboratory
Digitalcartographic
laboratory

Four ground receivingstation

NOAA satellite
ground station

SkilledManpower

MODIS satellite
ground station
MTSAT satellite
ground station
Digital Video
Broadcast via
Satellite (DVB-S)
technology( FY-2D, FY-2E)

Internationals Connectivity of SPARRSOAsia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF)

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

Asia-Pacific Multilateral Cooperation in Space Technology and Application (AP-ACSTA)

Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO)Canadian International Development Organization (CIDA)

Centre of Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)Inter-Islamic Network on Science and Technology (ISNET)

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration of USA (NASA)United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA)ICIMOD

Disaster Management andSpace Technology

Occurrence
Location

DisasterManagement

ExtentInformation
Intensity
Damage…..

SpaceTechnology

Possible Applications of Space Technology & GIS in
Disaster Management in Bangladesh

Operational Aspects of Space Technology inDisaster Reduction

Disaster Management Based on Space Technology (Source: SPARRSO)Space Technology
Based Activities
Acquisition of appropriate
and timely data
Data processing
Data analysis &interpretation
GPS-based Mobile RS
Ground Validation
Retrieval of Geo-statistics& Geoinformation

Information sharing,
dissemination &communication
National Organization
Functionalities
Dealing with Disasters
Prediction &early warning
Decision-making:Monitoring &Natural disaster
assessment
Damageassessment
Effective
participation of all
stakeholders
Disaster risk
reduction
Reconstruction &rehabilitation

Geospatial Disaster
Database in GIS
Regional Supportive Programs toDisaster Management:
UN ESCAP, UN SPIDER, WINDS
Sentinel Asia, APSCO

Insitu & Radar-based
MeteorologicalObservation

Information Flow during Emergency Response
Upazila Disaster Management
Committee

Union Disaster
Management Committee

District Disaster
Management Committee

CPPVolunteers
NDRCC of
MoFDM

CPP H/QBMD/
SPARRSO

PM officemonitoring
cell
2222

Application of Space Technology for Cyclone
Monitoring: A story of success

Devastating
cyclone of1970

Devastating
cyclone of1991

SPARRSO
introduced
satellite
based
monitoringin 1985

600
500
500
400

Devastating
cyclone of2007
Sidr: the lastdevastating cyclone
in Bangladesh

300

223 225

200100Year 1970

250

Year 1991
13825 23 19Year 2007
3.50Surge in ft.

Wind speed inkm

Death tools inThousands

Assessment of Cyclone Damages
NDVI, Satellite Aqua, 20th November
2007

SIDR Affectedareas in theSundarbans
Affected area is 21%
Of total Sundarbans
area

Forest Area
Affected bycyclone SIDR

Assessment of Sundarbans Forest Resources Damages
Impact










Visual impact 21% of Sundarbans
32% of the affected area and about 6% of thetotal area experienced major damage
Major damage happened within 300 m fromriver banks
Damage types include uprooted, broken/twisted
and leaf burnt of plants
Forest fire may occur
Rejuvenation of kewra observed during fieldsurveyRegeneration of the important species mayhamper;
Sand carpeting on pneumatophore observed in
Kochikhali, Kotka, Dubla
100% forest infrastructures, facilities andlogistics such as offices, guard posts, water
crafts, and equipments damaged
The satellite image (MODIS)
indicates that the most affected area
Tourism of Sundarbans has been decreased
is the eastern Sundarbans
significantly

Aman Crop Damage Assessment using MODIS Data
Affected seven districts by Cyclone Sidr (2007)

Before Sidr

After Sidr

Total production loss: 51%

Application of Space Technology: Flood
Monitoring extent offlood:
Year

Area affected,% of total area

1954

24.8

1955

26.2

1974

35.4

1987

38.6

1988

52.4

1998

61.7

2004

38.4

2007

42.2

Latest nation-wide flood

Visual interpretation of
NOAA-AVHRR ImageSPARRSO introduced satellite
based monitoring in 1988

Digital processing of
RADARSAT Images

Digital processing of
RADARSAT and NOAAAVHRR Image Images

Digital processing of
NOAA-AVHRR ImageImages

Space-based Information for Assessment ofCrop Damages:
50,500 hectare Boro rice was damaged by flash
flood in April 2010.

MODIS Pre-flood Image

MODIS Post-flood Image

Application of Space Technology: Water-logging
A silent disaster in Bangladesh
Monitoring of Water-Logging in
Bhutiar Beel of Khulna District
Using Remote Sensing and GIS
Technique
BORO rice
area in 2003

Study area: 8000 Hec.
Aman damage: 3540 Hec. (83.37 % of the Aman cultivablearea)
Boro damage: 3267 Hec. (81.80 % of the Boro cultivable
area)

Water-loggedin 2009

Approaches for Capacity Building in SpaceTechnology through international connectivity1) Regional Server for WINDS
Under Sentinel Asia program, SPARRSO establishes Regional Server for“WINDS” – a satellite system for receiving satellite data free of cost during
emergency disaster period.
2) Launching Applied Earth Observation Satellite
SPARRSO participating in the Applied High Resolution Satellite Launching
initiative of Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO).
Feasibility study has already been completed.
3) UN-ESCAP Regional Drought Monitoring Working GroupSPARRSO playing an important role in the UN-ESCAP Regional Drought
Monitoring Working Group to utilize space technology for monitoring.
4) Collaboration Research with ICIMODSPARRSO signed an MOU with ICIMOD to initiate researches on remotesensing application in various geo-disciplines including disaster.

Utilization of Sentinel Asia ( SA ) andInternational Disaster Charter (IDC ) for
Emergency Mapping.
To receive satellite imagery during disasters,
WINDS satellite ground station has been
established at SPARRSO under the initiative ofSA. The system is not fully operational now.

lesson learned using satellite data fordisaster monitoring
Real /near real time satellite data is essential for application
on disaster monitoring.

Microwave data is needed for monitoring the extent ofdisasters like flood, storm surges etc.

High resolution satellite data is needed for post-disasterdamage assessment.

Joint research opportunities with the advanced countries on
the specific issues of disaster monitoring may impartvaluable role for effective management of disaster in thecountry.

Limitations of utilization of satellite dataFor addressing the issues of monitoring a disaster, multisatellite and multi-sensor data is needed which are notavailable in real/near real time basis.

For preparing useful products using satellite data somebaseline GIS data layers (roads, settlements area, etc.)of thewhole country are needed but not available.

Proposal forImprovement
WINDS satellite system needs to be fully operationalso that satellite data can be made available during
disasters.

More activities for expert and policy level exchanges
may
impartvaluableroleforestablishment/strengthening the national disastermonitoring systems.

Joint research programs may be undertaken with theadvanced countries for addressing specific issues ofdisaster monitoring in the country.

Conclusion
Space technology becomes an integral part of disastermanagement, especially given the country’s
geographical location that makes it prone to frequent
flooding , cyclones and other hazards.
Useful Information retrieval using space technology fordisaster monitoring depends on the availability of real/nearreal time RS data, particularly microwave data. Bangladesh
needs to develop a mechanism to acquire such data either
through establishment of a ground receiving station orcooperating with relevant international organizations.

Recommendations
The recommendations focus on the challenges andopportunities in the following specific areas:• Policy and coordination,• Capacity building and awareness raising,• Information management and sharing,• Data and access• Emergency communication

Way Forward
1. Different scale remote sensing satellite images with highand medium spatial resolution images, high and medium
resolution radar data.
2. Regional capacity-building efforts on disaster reduction
techniques, databases, hardware and software, mappingand knowledge creation .
3. Further improvement is needed among the operational &institutional arrangements with satellite service provider
and the users like remote sensing service users, weather
forecastingorganizations,disastermanagement
authorities. Services have to be standardized, anddelivery channels must be incorporated with relevant
disaster response plans.

Thanks