SENTINEL ASIA
ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Sentinel Asia
Annual Report 2019
Content
1. Introduction ·············································································· 1
1.1.

Purpose and Scope of the Document ·························································· 1

1.2.

Structure of the Document ········································································ 1

1.3.

List of Acronyms····················································································· 2

2. Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters ················································ 4
2.1.

Outline of Sentinel Asia ············································································ 42.1.1. Background and History of Sentinel Asia ···················································· 4
2.1.2. Aims and Activities of Sentinel Asia in a Nutshell ·········································· 6
2.1.3. Framework and Emergency Observation Mechanisms of Sentinel Asia·············· 7
2.1.4. Current Phase (Step 3) and Ongoing Actions of Sentinel Asia ························· 8
2.2.

Major Disasters in Emergency Observation (2007-2019) ·································10

3. Emergency Observation Operation in 2019 ·································· 12
3.1.

Emergency Observation Requests ·····························································123.2.

Results of Emergency Observation ····························································15

3.3.

Good Practices ·····················································································19

3.3.1. GLOF in Bhutan (June 2019) ································································19
3.3.2. Landslide in Kyrgyzstan (December 2019) ···············································21
3.3.3. Earthquake in the Philippines (December 2019) ········································23
3.3.4. Typhoon in Fiji (December 2019) ···························································25

4. External Relations ···································································· 27
4.1.

Accession of New Members ·····································································27

4.1.1. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ··········································27

4.2.

Collaboration and Cooperation··································································28

4.2.1. International Disaster Charter ·································································28

5. Conferences and Releases ························································ 29
5.1.

Conferences·························································································29

5.1.1. Steering Committee Meeting of Sentinel Asia (Thailand) ·······························29
5.1.2. Global Platform 2019 (Switzerland) ··························································30
5.1.3. 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (Thailand) ·················································32
5.1.4. Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (Turkey) ·······································33
5.1.5. 26th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (Japan)···········34
5.2.

Documents, Press Releases and Papers·····················································35

5.2.1

Cooperation Agreement between NARLabs and JPT-3 ·································35

5.2.2

Broadcast by euronews ········································································35

5.2.3

ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review (ARMOR) ·················35

5.2.4

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) ·······················365.2.5Newsletter ·························································································366. Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operations ····································· 40
6.1.

Analysis of Operational Performance··························································40

7. Conclusions ············································································ 44

Appendix-

List of JPT Members-

List of Emergency Observation Requests by each country-

JPT member report “Sentinel Asia Activity in 2019”

Chapter 1: Introduction

1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose and Scope of the Document
This document describes the activities of Sentinel Asia (SA) in 2019 for member
organizations and external relations.

1.2. Structure of the Document
This report follows the following structure:

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters: overview and target disaster events of
Sentinel Asia
Chapter 3 Emergency Observation Operation in 2019: results of emergency observation
activities in 2019
Chapter 4 External Relations: explains the integration of new members, progress,
external relationships and Cooperating Bodies
Chapter 5 Communication and Conference: reports on all communication activities
undertaken throughout the reporting period
Chapter 6 Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operations: provides an assessment of theoverall impact of Sentinel Asia as a service in supporting disaster response, and ofsystem performance, products and services.
Chapter 7 Conclusions: outlines significant achievements and conclusions throughout
the reporting period.

1Chapter 1: Introduction

1.3. List of Acronyms
ADPC

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADRC

Asian Disaster Reduction Center

AFAD

Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency in Turkey

AHA Center

ASEAN

Coordinating

Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster

Management
AIT

Asian Institute of Technology

ALOS

Advanced Land Observing Satellite

APRSAF

Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency ForumARMOR

ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review

ASEAN

Association of South-East Asian Nations

CAIAG

Central-Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences

DAN

Data Analysis Node

DPN

Data Provider Node

EOC

Earth Observatory of Singapore

EOR

Emergency Observation Request

GAR

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction

GISTDA

Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

IDC

International Disaster Charter

IRS

Indian Remote Sensing Satellite

ISRO

Indian Space Research Organization

IWMI

International Water Management Institute

JAXA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JICA

Japan International Cooperation Agency

JPTM

Joint Project Team Meeting

KARI

Korea Aerospace Research Institute

LAPAN

National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Indonesia)

MBRSC

Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre

MO

Manila Observatory

MoWHS

Ministry of Works and Human Settlement (Bhutan)

NARLabs

National Applied Research Laboratories

NDMO

National Disaster Management Office (Fiji)NIEDNational Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience

NSPO

National Space Organization

2

Chapter 1: Introduction

RSO

Regional Support Offices

SA

Sentinel Asia

SAWG

Space Applications Working GroupSEUWGSpace Environment Utilization Working Group

SEWG

Space Education Working Group

SPC

Secretariat of the Pacific Community

STWG

Space Technology Working Group

UNDRR

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

UNESCAP

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

UNOCHA

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

UNOOSA

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

UN-SPIDER

United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Managementand Emergency Response

VAP

Value Added Product

WINDS

Wideband Internetworking engineering test and Demonstration Satellite

3Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

2.

Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

2.1. Outline of Sentinel Asia

2.1.1. Background and History of Sentinel Asia
Natural disasters have been on the rise worldwide, including the Asia-Pacific region(Figure 1). The Asia-Pacific region suffers from different types of natural disasters, suchas earthquakes, cyclones/typhoons, floods, landslides, droughts, tsunamis, volcanic
eruptions and forest fires. Several of them are large-scale, devastating disasters. Given
the high population level (about 3 billion) as well as the high frequency and severity ofnatural disasters in the region, an integrated use of space technology, such as earth
observation satellite data and geographic information systems, can be an effective means
to reduce the magnitude of the severity, or provide timely management in the event of alarge-scale natural hazard or disaster. In light of the increasing frequency of natural
disasters and an elevated loss of lives and properties from these events, SA, acollaborative, regional project, was conceptualized in 2005, and begun to operate in 2007.
It is engaged in activities to share and provide disaster-related information, including
earth observation satellite images via the internet, to contribute toward disastermanagement in the Asia-Pacific region. Space agencies from the member countries of the
Asia-Pacific Region Space Agency Forum (APRSAF), including the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) and disaster risk reduction agencies in the Asia-Pacificregion such as the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), cooperate in forming a Joint
Project Team (JPT) and promoting SA. As of December 2020, it consists of 111 member
organizations, including 94 agencies from 28 countries/regions and 17 internationalorganizations. JAXA has been serving as a secretariat of the JPT.

4

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

500

Insect infestation

400

Landslide
Epidemic
Wildfire
300

Extreme temperature
Drought
Mass Movement
Volcanic activity

200

Earthquake
Storm
Flood
100

0
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Figure 1: Incidence of natural disasters by region (In and after 1990)

A stepwise approach for the implementation of data and information dissemination
systems through SA as proposed by the APRSAF was as follows:

Step 1: Implementation of the backbone 'Sentinel Asia' data dissemination system andassociated Nodes (Feb. 2006–Dec. 2007)
Step 2: Expansion of the dissemination backbone with new Satellite Communication
Systems (2008–2012)
Step 3: Establishment of a comprehensive ‘Disaster Management Support System’ in theregion (2013 onwards)

Sentinel Asia initiated an emergency observation request system in 2007 to provide
image data (and analyzed images) acquired through the satellites operated byparticipating space agencies on the internet and via JAXA’s Wideband Internetworking
engineering test and Demonstration Satellite (WINDS), also known as Kizuna, in theevent of a disaster in the Asia-Pacific region.
During that time, Sentinel Asia participated in the International Disaster Charter(IDC) in 2010 to expand its activities and cooperation on a global scale. Sentinel Asia
also established the Regional Support Office (RSO) for the United Nations Platform forSpace-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN5

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

SPIDER) at the ADRC in June 2009, which serves as a contact (liaison) office for
emergency observation requests, to expand the range of its activities and increaseinternational interest.

2.1.2. Aims and Activities of Sentinel Asia in a Nutshell
The SA aims to: (i) improve safety in society with the use of modern Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) and space-based technology; (ii) improve the speed andaccuracy of disaster preparedness and early warning; and (iii) minimize the number ofvictims, as well as social and economic losses. To achieve these goals, various activities
have been undertaken.

The main activities of the SA are summarized as follows:・

Emergency observation by earth observation satellites (e.g. ALOS, FORMOSAT, IRS,
KOMPSAT, THEOS, VNREDSAT, X-SAT and DUBAISAT) in the event of majordisasters

・

Acceptance of observation requests of major disasters in the Asia-Pacific region fromADRC member organizations and the representative organizations of JPT members
to support disaster management in the region

・Working Groups (WGs) for early warning and disaster monitoring: WGs on wildfires,floods, glacial lake outburst floods, and tsunamis are (formed and) in operation

・Capacity building of member organizations (e.g., through training) for the utilizationof satellite images for disaster management

The following is an overview of the main data and products provided by SA to its
members: (i) satellite imagery (and data permitted by data providers) and value-added
images with an extraction of the affected area, etc.; (ii) on-site digital camera images;(iii) wildfire hotspot information and data; (iv) rainfall (short-term and long-term)
information and data; and (v) meteorological satellite imagery and data.

6

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

2.1.3. Framework and Emergency Observation Mechanisms of Sentinel Asia
SA is promoted under cooperation among the following three communities: (i) the Space
Community (APRSAF); (ii) the International Community (e.g., UNESCAP, UNOOSA,ASEAN, AIT); and (iii) the Disaster Reduction Community (ADRC and its member
countries), as illustrated in Figure 2. To promote the activities of SA, the JPT wasorganized, which is open to all APRSAF member countries, disaster prevention
organizations and regional/international organizations who wish to participate indisaster information sharing activities.

Figure 2: Framework of Sentinel Asia

SA is composed of two Nodes (Data Provider, and Data Analysis) and four Working
Groups (Wildfire, Flood, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood and Tsunami). The Data Provider
Node (DPN) provides their own satellite imagery and other relevant data to JPT
members upon an Emergency Observation Request (EOR) from a JPT member, to theextent permitted by the data policy of each DPN when a disaster occurs, while the Data
Analysis Node (DAN) analyzes the satellite data provided by DPN, makes a value-added7

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

product and uploads and shares the result through the new Sentinel Asia EOR system“OPTEMIS”, which started to operate in 2019 (Figure 3). Between 2006 and 2019, about
361 EORs have been made or accepted, providing data and products to its members to
support disaster management. The four WGs work toward the establishment andimprovement of early warning/forecasting systems, as well as monitoring and planningfor disaster management in their respective fields.

Figure 3: Flow of Sentinel Asia emergency observation

2.1.4. Current Phase (Step 3) and Ongoing Actions of Sentinel Asia
Out of the 3 Steps employed by Sentinel Asia, the successful completion of Steps 1 and2 has so far been declared. Step 3 began in 2013, defining its priority areas based on
experiences in the earlier Steps and user requests leading to necessary actions as shownin Figure 4.

8

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

The key features of Step 3 are:・

Covering all phases in a disaster management cycle

・

Employing a wide variety of satellites, including earth observation satellites,
communication satellites and navigation satellites

・

Being managed as a joint project by participating agencies, through the planned
construction of a joint management system

・Promoting the use of services by expanding human networks through capacity
development and outreach activities

Figure 4: Current phase (Step 3) and actions of Sentinel Asia

9

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

2.2.

Major Disasters with Emergency Observation (2007-2019)

Figures 5 and 6 show a breakdown of emergency observations with requests andemergency observations with activation by disaster. Table 1 shows the number ofrequests, activations, and rejections for each disaster. Floods represent the largest
number of disasters with 164 requests (49.2%), followed by earthquakes at 43 (12.9%),
landslides at 25 (7.5%), typhoons at 25 (7.5%), forest fires and fires at 17 (5.1%), volcanic
eruptions at 17 (5.1%), and cyclones at 14 (4.2%).
Generally, activation is made for around 80% to 90% of requests for most disasters.
There is 95.1% activation for flood, but the activation rate is only 41.2% for forest fires.

Others, 23

Oil Spill, 5Cyclone, 15
Volcano, 18
Forest Fire, 18

Flood, 176

Typhoon, 30

Landslide, 27
Earthquake, 49

Figure 5: Breakdown of Emergency Observations by Disaster (2007 - 2019)*Requests (N=361)

10

Chapter 2: Sentinel Asia and Major Disasters

Cyclone, 14

Others, 16

Oil Spill, 3Volcano, 15
Forest Fire, 8

Flood, 164

Typhoon, 28
Landslide, 22

Earthquake, 44

Figure 6: Breakdown of Emergency Observations by Disaster (2007 - 2019)*Activations (N=314)

Table 1: Number of Requests, Activations, and Rejections for Emergency
Observations by Disaster (2007 - 2019)
Number of Reque st

Number of Acti va tion Number of Rejecti on

Acti va ti on/Re quest
(%)

Flood

175

164

11

93.7%

Earthquake

49

44

5

89.8%

Landslide

27

22

5

81.5%

Typhoon / Storm

30

28

2

93.3%

Forest Fire

18

8

10

44.4%

Volcano

18

15

3

83.3%

Cyclone

15

14

1

93.3%

Oil Spill

5

3

2

60.0%

Others

24

16

8

66.7%

Total

361

314

47

11

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3. Emergency Observation Operations in 2019

3.1.

Emergency Observation Requests

Figure 7 shows the number of requests, activations and rejections involving emergency
observations from 2007 to 2019. The number of requests and activations peaked in 2010
and 2011, with the number declining subsequently thereafter, but the number increased
once again from 2015 to 2016. The number has begun decreasing gradually once moresince 2016.

50
43
40
40
36
34

35

32
31

31

31
30

30

28
25

24

25
24

25

RequestActivation

20
20
15

18
16

19

18

10

8

Rejection

19
18

9

6

5

20
18

6

2

2

1

1

2014

2015

2

3
1

1

2017

2018

0
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2016

2019

Figure 7: Comparison of the Number of Requests, Activations and Rejections for
Emergency Observations

All 2019 activations are listed in Table 2. In total, 28 requests were received in 2019.
The following three requests were rejected after confirmation with the requester:-

Activation No. 346, Country [India],

Disaster type [Flood]-

Activation No. 349, Country [Vietnam], Disaster type [Flood]-

Activation No. 350, Country [Nepal],

Disaster type [Flood]

12

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Figures 8 and 9 show a breakdown of emergency observations with requests andemergency observations with activation by disaster. On a request basis, floods
represented the largest number of disasters, with 11 requests (39.3%), followed byearthquakes at 6 (21.4%), and typhoons at 5 (17.9%).

Table 2: List of 2019 Activations
Acti vati on
NumberCountry

Disaster TypeActi vati on
Da te

Re que s te r

334

Japan

Volcanic Eruption

2019/1/17

JAXA/JMA

335

Indonesia

Flood2018/3/18

336

Nepal

Storm

2019/4/4

337

Korea

Forest Fire

2019/4/5

LAPAN
Department ofHydrology andMeteorology
NDMI

338

Philippines

Earthquake

2019/4/27

PHIVOLCS

339

Philippines

Earthquake

2019/4/27

PHIVOLCS

340

India

Cyclone2019/5/2

ISRO

341

TurkeyLandslide2019/5/29

AFAD

342

Bhutan

GLOF

2019/6/22

MOHCA

343

China

Earthquake

2019/6/22

344

Vietnam

Flash Flood

2016/6/26

345

Indonesia

Earthquake

2019/7/15

346

India

Flood

347

MyanmarFlood

2019/8/14

348

Japan

Flood

2019/8/28

CEA
MONRE
DMPTC
LAPAN
BNPB
SIU
AHA Center
RRD
YMGU, NIED

349

Vietnam

Flood

350

Nepal

Flood

351

VietnamFlood

2019/9/5

MONRE, DMPTC

352

Laos

Flood

2019/9/6

AHA Center, NDMO

353

ThailandFlood

2019/9/21

AHA Center, DDPM

354

India

Flood

2019/9/30

ISRO, DMS

355

Japan

Typhoon2019/10/11

JAXA, CAO

356

Philippines

Earthquake

2019/11/1

PHIVOLCS

357

VietnamTyphoon2019/11/7

MONRE, DMPTC

358

Philippines

Typhoon2019/12/9

MO

359

Kyrgyzstan

Landslide2019/12/10

CAIAG

360

Philippines

Earthquake

2019/12/16

MO

361

Fiji

Typhoon2019/12/31

SPC, NDMO(Fiji)

MONRE
DHM, MOHA*ID 346, 349 and 350 were rejected.

13

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Cyclone, 1
Volcano, 1

Flood, 11Typhoon, 5Landslide, 2Earthquake (orTsunami), 6

Figure 8: Breakdown of Emergency Observations by Disaster *Requests in 2019
*Requests (N=28)

Cyclone, 1
Volcano, 1

Flood, 8Typhoon, 5

Earthquake (orTsunami), 6

Landslide, 2Figure 9: Breakdown of Emergency Observations by Disaster *Activations in
2019*Activations (N=25)

14

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3.2.

Results of Emergency Observations

During 2019, the monthly average of activations was 2.1. Figure 10 shows the monthly
distribution of activations throughout 2019. The highest number of activations occurredin April, September, and December, corresponding to 48.0% of the total number. The
remaining months of 2019 saw a number of activations that varied from 0 to 3.

4.5
4

4

4

Number of Activations

4
3.5
3
3
2.5
2

2

2

2
1.5
1

1

1

1

1
0.5
0
0
January

February

March

April

May

June

July

AugustSeptember OctoberNovember December

Figure 10: Number of monthly activations in 2019

Figure 11 shows the number of emergency observations by country. Countries andregions with a large number of requests are mostly located in Southeast Asia, including
the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. The highest number of activations was thePhilippines, at 5 activation. A request from the AFAD of Turkey was accepted for the
first time.

15

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

6

Number of Activation

5

4
3

3

2

2

2
1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

Figure 11: Number of activations by country in 2019

Figure 12 shows the number of implementations by DPN. In total, 65 implementations
were made in 2019, and satellite data was provided to the requesters.
25

Number of Implementation

22
19

20

15

13
11

10

5

0
JAXA

ISRO

GISTDA

NARL

MBRSC

CRISP

DPN

Figure 12: Number of responses by DPN in 2019

16

KARI

STI/VAST

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

DPN have been providing a lot of satellite images, including optical and radar data,when an EOR is activated. DAN have also been supportive by providing Value Added
Products (VAP), including KMZ files and shapefiles for GIS. This data is uploaded to
OPTEMIS and the SA website (https://sentinel-asia.org/index.html). Figure 13 shows thenumber of optical and radar data by DPN which were uploaded to the SA website.

200

Number of Scenes

170

100

55
45
37
15
3
0
JAXA

ISRO

GISTDA

NARL

MBRSC

CRISP

KARI

STI/VAST

DPN
Archive

New Acquisition

Figure 13: Data consumption (Archive and New Acquisition) by DPN in 201917

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Figure 14 shows the number of implementations by DAN in 2019. In total, 69 were
implemented, and VAP were provided to requesters. Figure 15 shows the number ofprovided VAP in 2019.

15
13
13
10
10
6
5

1
0
EOS

AIT

JAXA

RIKEN

YU

Figure 14: Number of responses by DAN in 2019

60

55

41
40

20
13
8
4
0
EOS

AIT

JAXA

RIKEN

Figure 15: Numver of VAP by DAN in 2019

18

YU

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3.3. Good Practices

3.3.1. GLOF in Bhutan (June 2019)[EOR Requestor] National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology, Bhutan[SA website URL] https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20190620BT.html

The Thorthormi-Lake is one of the potentially dangerous lakes which has the possibility
to cause a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Bhutan. The Thorthormi-Lake in thehead waters of Phochu was partially bridged on 20th June during the nighttime. The
National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology submitted an EOR because of thedetection of an advance warning of a hazardous situation. Sentinel Asia received an EOR
related to this disaster from the National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology on the
21st of June 2019, and activated it the next day. The ADRC confirmed the EOR sheet
and transferred a DPN/DAN. First satellite images from the DPN were provided on the
26th of June. Finally, 10 satellite images were provided by JAXA, ISRO and GISTDA,
and the AIT, operating as a DAN, provided support on the 27th of June as shown infigure 16AA.
The National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology shared the “provided data (satellite
images and VAPs)” at an emergency meeting held on the 21st of June 2019, chaired by
the Cabinet Secretary and attended by the Secretary, Ministry of Home and Cultural
Affairs, Dasho Zimpon of His Majesty’s Secretariat and officials of the Department ofDisaster Management (DDM). The provided data was also shared with different
divisions of the Center-Cryosphere Services Division and the Hydrology and Water
Resources Services Division for filed surveys on-site, and making internal reports.
(news source: https://kuenselonline.com/experts-to-visit-thorthormi-today/)(news source: https://www.thethirdpole.net/2019/07/10/glof-bhutan/)

19

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Figure 16: VAP (provided by AIT)

20

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3.3.2. Landslide in Kyrgyzstan (December 2019)[EOR Requestor] Central-Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences (CAIAG)[SA website URL] https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20191201KG.html

The Central Asian Institute of Applied Geosciences (CAIAG) is an independent nonprofit organization and was founded in 2002 under a cooperative agreement between the
Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the German GeoForschungs Zentrum, Potsdam,
Germany. CAIAG is also the only JPT member that functions as a DAN in Kyrgyzstan.
CAIAG participated in the 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (JPTM 2019), which was heldfrom the 12th to the 14th of November 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was jointly organizedby the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA). At the meeting, CAIAG conducted a presentation entitled“Possible Ways to Improve Sentinel Asia's Potential in Central Asian Countries” andjoined a training workshop session that included an explanation about EORs when using
OPTEMIS.
After CAIAG participated in JPTM, a large landslide occurred in a waste pile at the
Kumtor mining camp in Kyrgyzstan on the 1st of December 2019. Two people died in thelandslide. According to a public report, the volume of the landslide was around 12 million
cubic meters. Sentinel Asia received an EOR related to the disaster from the CAIAG and
the Ministry of Emergency Situation in Kyrgyzstan on the 1st of December 2019.
The last EOR received from Kyrgyzstan was related to a flood which occurred in March
2012. The experience and knowledge acquired by CAIAG through JPTM 2019
contributed toward this EOR for the December 2019 landslide, after a gap of around 9
years.
ADRC confirmed the EOR sheet and transferred a DPN/DAN on the 10th of December.
The first satellite images from the DPN were provided on the 12th of December. Finally,
21 satellite images were provided by JAXA, NARLabs, ISRO and GISTDA, and JAXA
provided a WEB-GIS system that was unable to confirm the provided satellite images,
as shown in Figure 17. CAIAG shared the “provided data (satellite images)” to the
Department of Monitoring, Forecasting of Emergencies under the Ministry of Emergency
Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as Indian International Remote Sensing. Thisdata was used for making the “Extraction of depletion and accumulation zones” report21Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019and improving the capacity of young researchers to use and process satellite data.

Figure 17: WEB-GIS (provided by JAXA)

22

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3.3.3. Earthquake in the Philippines (December 2019)[EOR Requestor] Manila Observatory (MO)[SA website URL] https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20191215PH.html

The Philippines is a one of the major disaster-prone countries in Asia. Large scaledisasters such as typhoons, cyclone, volcanos, and earthquakes have been occurring
every year. The Manila Observatory (MO) is a non-profit research institute housed on
the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines. The MO isalso one of the JPT members that functions as a DAN in the Philippines.
MO also participated in the 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (JPTM 2019), which washeld from the 12th to the 14th of November 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. At the meeting,
MO conducted a presentation entitled “Sentinel Asia DAN Updates, PHILIPPINES”,
and joined a training workshop session that included an explanation about EORs whenusing OPTEMIS.
After the MO participated in JPTM, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the southern
Philippine island of Mindanao on the 15th of December. Reliefweb reported that in Davaodel Sur, Mindanao, more than 378,000 people were affected, over 210 people were injured,and there were 13 fatalities. Sentinel Asia received an EOR related to the disaster from
the MO on the 16th of December 2019. The experience and knowledge acquired by the
MO through JPTM 2019 contributed toward the swift submission of an EOR.
ADRC confirmed the EOR sheet and transferred a DPN/DAN on the same day. The firstsatellite images from the DPN were provided on the 17th of December. Finally, 12
satellite images were provided by JAXA, NARLabs and ISRO, and the EOS, operating
as a DAN, provided support through a VAP on the 20th of December, as shown in figure
18. There are 9 JPT members in the Philippines, and 5 of the members operate as DANs.
However, there is no DPN in the country, so the MO filed a request for the EOR andcollected the satellite images in order to share them with other DANs in the Philippines.

23

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Figure 18: VAP (provided by EOS)

24

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

3.3.4. Typhoon in Fiji (December 2019)[EOR Requestor] Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC/SOPAC)[SA website URL] https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20191228FJ.html
Fiji is an island country located in the South Pacific, and consists of more than 300
islands. The Pacific Community (SPC) is an international development organization
owned and governed by its 26 country and territory members, including Fiji. The
National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Fiji is also a major disastermanagement organization in the country.
The NDMO also participated in the 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (JPTM 2019), which
was held from the 12th to the 14th of November 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand. At themeeting, the NDMO reported on a past EOR activity in Fiji, and joined a training
workshop session that included an explanation about EORs when using OPTEMIS.
After the NDMO participated in JPTM 2019, Tropical Cyclone “Sarai” passed throughthe Fijian islands from the 28th of December 2019, and continued to progress throughthe country on the 30th of December. There were two fatalities, and more than 2,500
people were evacuated to evacuation centers. The cyclone also brought strong winds andheavy rain to south-east Fiji. Sentinel Asia received an EOR related to the disaster fromthe SPC and NDMO on the 30th of December 2019.
The last EOR received from Fiji was related to cyclone which occurred in February 2016.
The experience and knowledge acquired by the NDMO through JPTM 2019 contributed
toward this EOR for Tropical Cyclone Sarai, after a gap of around 5 years.
ADRC confirmed the EOR and transferred a DPN/DAN on the 31st of December. The
first satellite images from the DPN were provided on the 2nd of January 2020. Finally,
6 satellite images were provided by ISRO and NARLabs. The SPC shared the “provided
data (satellite images)” to the National Emergency Operations Centre and used it for afield assessment. The data was also included in the map and internal documents.
(news source: http://floodlist.com/australia/fiji-tropical-cyclone-sarai-december-2019)25

Chapter 3: Emergency Observation Operation in 2019

Figure 19: Satellite image (provided by NARLabs)

26

Chapter 4: External Relations

4. External Relations

4.1. Accession of New Members
In 2019, the following three organizations joined SA. An introduction from the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is shown as follows.
-

RIKEN

-

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

4.1.1. Message from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
JICA was established as an independent administrative institution in charge of theadministration of Japan’s ODA. It is one of the largest bilateral aid agencies supporting
socioeconomic development in developing countries. JICA also assists developing
countries in building a society that is more disaster-resilient than before.
Developing countries are especially vulnerable to natural disasters. For this reason,
once a large-scale disaster strikes a developing country, the outcomes of development
and opportunities for sustainable growth for the country will be lost, making it difficult
for the country to untangle itself from the downward spiral of disaster and poverty. It is
important to understand the damage situation soon after a disaster occurs, and to takenecessary actions for recovery and reconstruction. Following the earthquake in central
Sulawesi, Indonesia last year, for example, JICA provided support for the Indonesian
Government to formulate a recovery plan. Thanks to Sentinel Asia and its member
organizations, JICA was able to utilize the satellite images and analysis results tounderstand the actual damage incurred. In this way, we have found SA capabilities to be
incredibly effective and efficient.
JICA’s post-disaster assistance focuses on the rehabilitation of infrastructure as wellas the recovery of societies and livelihoods based on the concept of Build Back Better.
JICA also pursues seamless cooperation that covers different phases, from response torecovery and reconstruction. As such, we hope to utilize the information provided from
Sentinel Asia in our operations.
JICA is honored to be accepted as a member organization of Sentinel Asia, and we lookforward to cooperating with its other members.

27

Chapter 4: External Relations

4.2. Collaboration and Cooperation

4.2.1

International Disaster Charter

The rollout to IDC began in February 2010 as required. Five disasters were escalated
through SA in 2019.

Table 3 List of Charter Escalation in 2019
Acti va tion
NumberCountry

Disaster Type

Activation
Da teReques ter

Project Ma na ger

335

Indonesia

Flood

18-Mar-19

Lapan

Philippine Institute of Volcanology andSeismology (PHIVOLCS) - DOST

348

Japan

Flood

28-Aug-19

YMGU, NIED

Yamaguchi University (YMGU)

355

Japan

Typhoon

11-Oct-19

JAXA, CaO

Yamaguchi University (YMGU)

356

Phillipnes

Earthqueke

1-Nov-19

PHIVOLCSPHIVOLCS

361

Fuji

Typhoon31-Dec-19

SPC, NDMO (Fiji)

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)28

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference5.

Conferences and Press Releases

5.1.

Conferences

5.1.1. Steering Committee Meeting of Sentinel Asia, 29-30 January 2019
Organizer: Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) andJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Date: 29-30 January 2019
Venue: Space Krenovation Park, Sriracha, Thailand

The Sentinel Asia Steering Committee Meeting was held in Thailand, from the 29th tothe 30th of January 2019. The meeting was organized by GISTDA and JAXA. JAXA
serves as the secretariat of Sentinel Asia’s Joint Project Team. The purpose of thisSteering Committee Meeting of Sentinel Asia was to review the current status of theStrategic Plan documents and activities by leading agencies, to discuss how to promoterealization of Step 3 – which covers all disaster cycles – and to discuss strategies on
private sector involvement in Sentinel Asia activities.
Opening remarks were made by Mr. Koji Suzuki, the co-chairperson of Sentinel Asia.
These were followed by a briefing by JAXA on the Steering Committee Mandate, and thestatus on and lessons learned from emergency observations conducted thus far. All ofthese helped demonstrate the advantages of satellite imagery for DRR purposes. There
were also many participants from space agencies and research organizations (e.g. AIT,GISTDA, NARLab, University of Tokyo, Yamaguchi University, ISRO, IWMI, NIED, etc.).
These organizations reported on their various activities that focus on basic approaches
for discussing strategic plans, which will be discussed throughout the year in preparation
for the APRSAF, scheduled for the fall of 2020.

29

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

Photo 1: Group Photo5.1.2. Global Platform 2019
Organizer: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Date: 13-17 May 2019
Venue: Geneva, Switzerland

The Sixth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) was
held at the International Conference Centre Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland, from the13th to the 17th of May 2019. The Global Platform has been recognized by the UN General
Assembly Resolution, and has been held bi-annually since 2007 to provide a venue forprofessionals working on DRR from many different stakeholder groups to get together.
The groups represented at this year’s event included national governments,
international organizations, regional organizations, academic institutes, civil societies,
and the private sector. This sixth meeting was co-hosted by the government of
Switzerland, as well as UNDRR, and was attended by representatives from 182 countries.
Dr. Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of JAXA, participated through a session entitled“Risk-Informed Public and Private Investments”, and provided a keynote statement. The
statement was related to the connection between the Sendai Framework for Disaster30

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

Risk Reduction and space technology, the utilization and development of satellite images
for disaster response in Japan and overseas, and activities and recent examples from
Sentinel Asia, in which JAXA has a lead role.
JAXA also conducted an internal meeting with the Cabinet Office in Japan and the
AFAD (Turkey), in order to strengthen the SA network in Middle East Asia.

Photo 2: Training

Photo 3: Training

31

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

5.1.3. 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (JPTM)
Organizer: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Date: 12-14 November 2019
Venue: Marriott Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

The 7th Joint Project Team Meeting for Sentinel Asia STEP-3 (JPTM2019) was held at
the Courtyard by Marriott Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand, from the 12th to the 14th ofNovember, 2019. It was jointly organized by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center(ADPC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Roughly 70 participants,
including representatives of satellite agencies, disaster management organizations, andacademic institutions in Japan, attended the meeting. The meeting primarily covered
the following topics:
Session 1: Overview
Session 2: New Membership
Session 3: Users' Session
Session 4: Training Workshop
Session 5: Strengthened link between Sentinel Asia and the Sendai Framework
Session 6: Project Management Session
Session 7: Wrap-up session

Photo 4: Group Photo

32

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

5.1.4. Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction 2019
Organizer: Government of Turkey (Disaster and Emergency Management Authority(AFAD), Government of Japan (Cabinet Office), ADRC
Date: 25-27 November 2019
Venue: Sheraton Ankara Hotel & Convention Center, Ankara, Turkey

The Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction, ACDR2019, was organized by theGovernment of Turkey, the Government of Japan, and the Asian Disaster Reduction
Center (ADRC), and was held from the 25th to the 27th of November 2019 in Ankara,
Turkey. ACDR2019 focused its sessions on five thematic areas that are aligned with the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development Goals.
There were 4 sessions in this conference, and Mr. Miyoshi Takanori (JAXA) highlighted
the advantages of using satellite emergency observations to improve disaster response.
He cited the Aybasti Landslide of May 2019 in Turkey, where AFAD requested a satellite
photo image of the impacted area. Along with the web-based GIS information, thedisaster responders were able to gain an understanding of the nature and depth oflandslide.

Photo 5: Group Photo

33

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

5.1.5. 26th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-26)
Organizer: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) andJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Date: 26-29 November 2019
Venue: Nagoya, Japan

The APRSAF was established in 1993 to enhance space activities in the Asia-Pacificregion. Attended by space agencies, governments, and international organizations suchas the United Nations, as well as companies, universities and research institutes, thisforum is the largest space-related conference in the Asia-Pacific region. APRSAF hasfour Working Groups: the (1) Space Applications Working Group (SAWG), (2) SpaceTechnology Working Group (STWG), (3) Space Environment Utilization Working Group(SEUWG), and (4) Space Education Working Group (SEWG). APRSAF participants
share information about their activities and future plans for their countries and regionsin each working group. APRSAF also supports international projects designed to findsolutions to common issues, such as disaster management and environmental protection.
The Secretariat of Sentinel Asia had one session at the Space Applications Working
Group (SAWG), which was held on the 27th of November. Reports on activities by JAXA,NSPO, AIT, GISTDA, Yamaguchi University, and ADRC were made.

Photo 6: Group Photo
34

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

5.2. Documents, Press Releases and Papers

5.2.1. Cooperation Agreement between NARLabs and JPT-3
The National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs) and the Joint Project Team for
Sentinel Asia Step-3 (JPT-3) signed a Cooperation Agreement in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on
the 25th of January 2019. The purpose of this Cooperation Agreement is to set forth thecontributions of NARLabs to Sentinel Asia concerning Sentinel Asia regional cloudservers.
(news source:
https://www.narlabs.org.tw/en/xmdoc/cont?xsmsid=0I160457997407279810&sid=0J0445764
82119662586)

5.2.2. Broadcast by euronews
Dr. Shiro Kawakita of JAXA was interviewed on euronews regarding disastermanagement using a JAXA satellite, and efforts made by Sentinel Asia. The interview
was broadcast on euronews on the 22nd of February 2019, and released on its website.
(news source: https://sentinel-asia.org/media/Media.html)

5.2.3. ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review (ARMOR)The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disastermanagement (AHA Centre) launched the first edition of the “ASEAN Risk Monitor andDisaster Management Review (ARMOR)” on the 20th of March 2019. This first edition of
ARMOR has the subtitle “Bridging Science and Decision Making”, and aims to provide
science-based resources for policymakers and the disaster management community in
the ASEAN region. The launch was celebrated at an inauguration ceremony attended byhigh-level officials of the community, including the Executive Director of the AHA Centre
and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Community and Corporate Affairs.
ARMOR underlines the benefit of Sentinel Asia for the ASEAN region by introducing
several cases in which Sentinel Asia was particularly useful, and notably recommends
that all national disaster management organizations (NDMOs) of ASEAN Member
States should be exposed to the Sentinel Asia platform. The highlight of Sentinel Asia in
ARMOR is a remarkable milestone in the Sentinel Asia’s history. Through collaboration
between the AHA Centre and Sentinel Asia, such virtuous opportunities are expected tocontinue.
(news source: https://sentinel-asia.org/topics/Topics.html)
35

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

5.2.4. Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR)
The UN Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is the flagshipreport of the United Nations on worldwide efforts to reduce disaster risk. The GAR ispublished biennially by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and is the
product of the contributions of several nations’ public and private disaster risk-relatedscience and research, amongst others. Several members from Sentinel Asia posted an
academic report entitled “Development of Sentinel Asia as a platform to facilitate spacebased technology application to disaster management operations” for GAR 2019.
(news source: https://www.undrr.org/publication/development-sentinel-asia-platformfacilitate-space-based-technology-application)

5.2.5. Newsletter
The secretariat of SA publishes a monthly newsletter for member organizations. The
following are the topics covered by the newsletters issued in 2019.

January 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in December 2018
2. [News] New Sentinel Asia Website
3. [News] Cooperation Agreement between NARLabs and JPT-3
4. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
5. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
6. [Events]

February 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in January 2019
2. [Report from Members] ADRC participated in Human Resource Development and Space Data
Utilization for Disasters Symposium
3. [Announcement] Sentinel Asia Annual Report 2017
4. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
5. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
6. [Events]

March 201936

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in February 2019
2. [News] Welcome New Member
3. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
4. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
5. [Events]

April 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in March 2019
2. [News] The AHA Centre launched the first "ASEAN Risk Monitor and Disaster Management Review(ARMOR)"
3. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
4. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
5. [Events]

May 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in April 2019
2. [News] Welcome New Member
3. [News] Risk Affects Business Performance
4. [Announcement] User Password will be changed in June (Sentinel Asia Step 2 System)
5. [Announcement] Message from JICA
6. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
7. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
8. [Events]

June 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in May 2019
2. [Announcement] User Password will be changed in June (Sentinel Asia Step 2 System)
3. [Announcement] Questionnaire on Sentinel Asia STEP3 and Sendai Framework for DRR
4. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
5. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
6. [Events]

37

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

July 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in June 2019
2. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
3. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
4. [Events]

August 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in June 2019
2. [News] Development of Sentinel Asia as a Platform to Facilitate Space-based Technology Application
to Disaster Management Operations
3. [Report from Members] 9th Annual UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices (RSO) Coordination
Meeting
4. [Report from Members] Development of Sentinel Asia as a Platform to Facilitate Space-based
Technology Application to Disaster Management Operations
5. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
6. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
7. [Events]

September 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in August 2019
2. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
3. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
4. [Events]

October 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in September 2019
2. [News] New Sentinel Asia system has been released.
3. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
4. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
5. [Events]

38

Chapter 5: Communication and Conference

November 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in December 2019
2. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
3. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
4. [Events]

December 2019
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in October 2019
2. [Announcement] Emergency Observation Request (EOR)
3. [Announcement] Requests to JPT Members
4. [Events]

39

Chapter 6: Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operation

6.

Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operations

6.1. Analysis of Operational Performance
Figure 20 summarizes the number of days from the occurrence of the disaster to therequest for each disaster and their respective years. Overall, this shows that it took anumber of days from the first occurrence of the disaster to a request for the period
between 2011 and 2019.

4
2.7

Number of Days

3

2.7
2.4

2.3

2.0

2
1.6

2.1

2.1

2014

2015

2.6

1

0
2011

2012

2013

2016

2017

2018

2019

Figure 20: Number of Days Required from Disaster Occurrence to Request

Figure 21 shows the number of days that were required from the date the request is
received to activation. Overall, it took 0.24 days from request to activation in 2019. Thisis an improvement over last year.

40Chapter 6: Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operation

2

Number of Days

1.5
0.9
1.0
0.8

1
0.5

0.4

0.24
0.4

0.5

0
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Figure 21: Number of Days Required from Request to Activation

Figure 22 to Figure 23 indicates the average number of days required to provide eachdata for each year, and the percentage of completed data provisions. Figure 24’s Archive
Satellite Data indicates that the percentage of provisions improved from 2016, totaling
80.0% in 2019. However, the average number of days required rose to 3.6 days from lastyear’s 2.0.

8.0
100.0

Percentage

80.0

94.4

80.0

100.0

70.8

90.3

61.8

60.0

5.9

62.1

4.0

4.8 5.3

40.0
20.0

6.0
63.3

3.9
2.9

2.7

3.6

2.0

Number of Days

100.0

2.0

2.0

0.0

0.0
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Percentage of Provided (Provided/Total)
Required average day for provide

Figure 22: Average Number of Days Required to Provide Archive Satellite Data
and Response Rate for Each Year
41

Chapter 6: Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operation

Figure 25’s Satellite Data after Disaster shows that the percentage of provisions
increased sharply from 2014 onward, while the number of days required for data
provision has declined in recent years. The average number of days required for provision
was around 3.2 days over the past 5 years, from 2015 to 2019.

12.0
9.8
95.8

84.2

94.1

88.9
80

100

80.6

93.1

Percentage

8.8

93.3

10.0
8.0

9.0

60

55.6

6.0
3.7

40

2.5

4.0

20

3.4

3.4

4.0

Number of Days

100

2.0

3.6

0

0.0
2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Percentage of Provided (Provided/Total)
Required average day for provide

Figure 23: Average Number of Days Required to Provide Satellite Data After
Disaster and Activation Rate for Each Year
Figure 24’s products were 76.0% in 2019, with figures on a steady decline since 2018.
The average number of days required for provision was also 4.8 days, indicating that
there was low achievement in 2019 for sharing products.

42

Chapter 6: Assessment of Sentinel Asia Operation

30.0
100

25.9
20.7
58.1

78.9

40

73.5

20.0

86.7

15.7
38.9

15.0
38.9
3.5

4.8

7.8

20

10.0

Number of Days

Percentage

25.0

83.3

80
60

76

82.8

18.0

5.0
5.5

4.7

0

0.0
2011

2012

2013

2014
2015
2016
2017
Percentage of Provided (Provided/Total)

2018

2019

Required average day for provide

Figure 24: Average Number of Days Required to Provide Products and Activation
Rate for Each Year

43

Chapter 7: Conclusions

7. Conclusions

Since the start of 2007, we have conducted emergency observation activities for 361
natural hazards, and three organizations joined SA as new members during 2019. JPT
members have also conducted a lot of activities in the field through international
conferences, specific projects, internal meetings, and more. The following points areconclusive statements based on activities in 2019 and suggestions for 2020.

・

In 2019, 28 EORs were submitted and 25 EORs were activated. Around 61% of the
EORs were related to floods and earthquakes.

・Five out of 25 Sentinel Asia activations were escalated to IDCs in 2019.

・

JICA and RIKEN joined as new JPT members in 2019.

・

JAXA made a keynote statement related to Sentinel Asia at the Global Platform
held in May 2019.

・

Academic papers related to SA were published in 2019 (e.g. ARMOR, GAR).

・The New Sentinel Asia system “OPTEMIS” was released in October 2019.

・

The Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) will be modified in accordance with
“OPTEMIS” in 2020.

・

JPT members are carrying out activities that coincide with the Sentinel Asia
Strategic Plan.

44

List of JPT Members(94 organizations from 28 countries/regions and 17 international organizations)
No.

Country / Region

No.

Organization

1

Armenia1

Ministry of Emergency Situation (MES)2

CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications (COSSA)

2Australia

3
43Bangladesh

Geoscience Australia (GA)
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)
Bangladesh Space Research and remote Sensing Organization(SPARRSO)
Department of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home andCultural Affairs
National Land Commission
Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan
Department of Geology and Mines (DGM)
Ministry of Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS)
Survey Department (SD), Ministry of Development
Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning andConstruction
National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM)
National Disaster Reduction Center of China (NDRCC), Ministryof Civil Affair
College of Disaster and Emergency Management, Beijing
Normal University (BNU)

5
6

4

Bhutan5

Brunei6

Cambodia

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

7

China

Fiji

India

✔

17

Sichuan University✔

18

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (IMHE),
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)National Disaster Management Office, FIJI (NDMO)
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
University of Kashmir
Gauhati University
Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics (SIG) , Symbiosis
International University (SIU)
National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB)
Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space(LAPAN)
Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB)
Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani (UNJANI)
Center for Remote Sensing and Ocean Sciences (CReSOS)
Udayana University

✔

20
22
23
24
25
26

10

Indonesia✔

Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration (CEA)21
9

Data Analysis
Node (DAN)

16

19
8

Data Provider
Node (DPN)

27
28
29

✔
✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

30

Center of Technology for Natural Resources Inventory (PTISDA - BPPT)✔

31

Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries✔

33

Keio University
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

34

Infrastructure Development Institute (IDI) Japan (IFNet)

35
36

Hokkaido University
Yamaguchi University✔

37

Chubu University✔

38

Chiba University✔

39

Hiroshima Institute of Technology

✔

40

✔

45

Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT)International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku
University
University of Tokyo
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster
Resilience (NIED)Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
RIKEN

46

Kobe University✔

47

National Center of Space Researches and Technologies (NCSRT)✔

48

Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)

49

National Disaster Management Research Institute (NDMI)✔

50

Central Asian Institute of Applied Geosciences (CAIAG)✔

51

Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare

52

Natural Resources and Environment Institute (NREI), Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)

53

National Security Division, Prime Minister's Department

54

Malaysian National Space Agency (ANGKASA)
Information And Research Institute Of Meteorology, Hydrology
And Environment (IRIMHE)
Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH)
Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD)
Myanmar Earthquake Committee (MEC) , Myanmar
Engineering Society (MES)

32

11

Japan

41
42
43
44

12

Kazakhstan

13

Korea

14

Kyrgyz15

Lao P.D.R.

16

Malaysia

17

Mongolia

18

Myanmar

55
56
57
58
59
60

19

Nepal

61
62

Survey Department (SD)
Department of Water Induced Disaster Management (DWIDM),
Ministry of Irrigation

Land Management Training Centre
Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Ministry of
Population & Environment

✔

✔

✔
✔
✔
✔

✔

✔

✔

20

Pakistan

63

21

Papua New Guinea

64
65
66
67
68

22

Philippines

69
70

Singapore24

Sri Lanka

25

TaiwanThailand

Office of Civil Defense (OCD), National Disaster Risk Reduction andManagement Council (NDRRMC)

National Mapping and Resource Information Authority(NAMRIA)
Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), Departmentof Agriculture
Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB), Department ofEnvironment and Natural Resources
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration (PAGASA)
Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging
Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD)✔

✔

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)✔

72

Manila Observatory (MO)NOAH Center of the University of the Philippines Resilience
Institute

✔
✔
✔

✔

74

Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP)

75

Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS)✔

76

Survey Department of Sri Lanka✔

77

Ministry of Disaster Management✔

78

National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL)
Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National
Central University (CSRSR, NCU)
Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency(GISTDA)

79
80

26

✔

71

73

23

Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission(SUPARCO)
National Disaster Centre (NDC)

81

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM)

82
83
84
85
86

Department of Water Resources (DWR)
Royal Forest Department (RFD)

87

✔

✔
✔

✔

✔

National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department

Royal Irrigation Department (RID)
Land Development Department (LDD)
Andaman Environment and Natural Disaster Research Center,
Prince of Songkla University (ANED, PSU)✔

27 United Arab Emirates

28

Vietnam88

Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC)

✔

✔

89

Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST)

✔

✔

90

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)

91

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE)

92
93

Cartography Department, Ministry of Defense (MOD)

94
95
96
97

29

International
Organization✔

Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
Vietnam Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources(VIGMR)
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)The ASEAN Secretariat
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia andthe Pacific (UNESCAP)

98

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

99

International Center for Integrated Mountain Development(ICIMOD)

100

CSIRO Office of Space Science and Applications (COSSA)✔

✔

International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management(ICHARM)
102 Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
101✔

Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC/SOPAC)
104 The World Bank (WB)
105 International Water Management Institute (IWMI)✔

Asian Development Bank (ADB)
ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on
107
disaster management (AHA Centre)
108 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Pakistan
109 Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

✔

103

✔

106

110

Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU)

111

UN World Food Programme (WFP)

✔
✔
✔
8

53

as of Dec 2020

List of Emergency Observation Request by each country

Activation

Rejection

Percentage ofActivation

Number of requested EOR (by each disaster)

RequestNumber of requested EOR (by year)

Indonesia

53

46

7

86.8

7

2

5

9

2

4

2

Vietnam

47

41

6

87.2

2

2

4

7

2

1

2

Philippine

38

36

2

94.7

1

1

6

1

4

4

3

1

2

4

4

2

5

38

11

28.9

8

India

23

19

4

82.6

1

4

3

1

2

2

1

2

1

3

3

23

13

56.5

Japan

22

22

0

100.0

1

4

1

3

3

2

1

2

3

22

10

Nepal

21

20

1

95.2

1

2

1

1

1

4

2

2

2

21

Taiwan

15

15

0

100.0

2

1

2

5

3

2

Thailand

14

12

2

85.7

1

2

1

2

Myanmar

14

12

2

85.7

3

Pakistan

12

8

4

66.7

Sri Lanka

12

11

1

91.7

China

11

9

2

81.8

Bangladesh

9

9

0

100.0

3

1

Tajikistan

7

7

0

100.0

1

2

1

1

Kazakhstan

6

4

2

66.7

1

2

3

Bhutan

7

5

2

71.4

2

Mongolia

6

0

6

0.0

Australia

5

5

0

100.0

Kyrgyzstan

6

3

3

50.0

Brunei

5

3

2

60.0

Cambodia

3

3

0

100.0

Solomon

3

3

0

100.0

Malaysia

3

3

0

100.0

Lao PDR

4

4

0

100.0

Korea

3

3

0

100.0

Fiji

3

3

0

100.0

Tonga

2

2

0

100.0

PNG

2

2

0

100.0

Afghanistan

1

0

1

0.0

New Zealand

1

1

0

100.0

Turkey

1

1

0

100.0

Vanuatu

1

1

0

100.0

United ArabEmirates

1

1

0

100.0

Total

361

314

47

-

Flood

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Earthquake

Landslide

Typhoon

Forest fire

Total
Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

Num.

4

2

7

3

4

2

2

3

12

6

2
1

2

2

2

3
1

1

2
1
2

1

2
1

Num.

(%)

53

17

32.1

13

24.5

4

7.5

4

47

34

72.3

0

0.0

1

2.1

Num.

(%)

2

3.8

12

22.6

1

2.6

1

4.3

1

4.3

1

4.3

45.5

5

22.7

3

13.6

1

4.5

13

61.9

2

9.5

2

9.5

1

4.8

15

4

26.7

2

13.3

1

6.7

6

40.0

1

14

12

85.7

1

7.1

1

14

8

57.1

4

28.6

1

7.1

12

5

41.7

2

16.7

4

33.3

12

10

83.3

1

8.3

11

2

18.2

3

27.3

9

5

55.6

2

22.2

7

4

57.1

1

14.3

6

3

50.0

2

33.3

7

4

57.1

3

42.9

1

6

2

33.3

3

50.0

1

5

3

60.0

1

20.0

6

1

16.7

5

4

80.0

3

3

100.0

1

1

3

1

1

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

2

1
1

1

1

3

1

3

1

2

2
1

1

1

2

1

2

1

2

1

1

1
1

1
1

1

3

1

33.3

2

1

3

2

66.7

3

75.0

1
1

1

1

4

1

1

3

1

3

1
1

1

39

20

19

25

36

32

31

28

2

66.7

1

2

9.5

1

6.7

1

8.3

1

14.3

1

16.7

1

16.7

2

33.3

1

33.3

1

25.0

23

-

13.6

4.8

1

8.3

1

7.1

2

22.2

9.1

20.0

33.3

33.3

15

-

1

176

6.7

33.3

1

50.0

100.0
100.0

1

361

1

7.1

100.0

100.0

2.1

13.0

1

1

1

3

1

50.0

9.4

17.4

100.0

1

5

4

1

1

1

(%)

7.9

33.3
1

Num.

3

1

1

4.3

33.3

33.3

1

25

16.7

20.0

(%)

5.3

1

1

1

1

Num.

others

2

100.0

2

1

1

5.3

1

1

2
1

14.3

2

2

1

1

1

45.5

(%)

33.3

2

1

5

Num.

Oil Spill2

3
1

Cyclone

1

1

1

43

(%)

28.9

1

24

Num.

11

1

19

(%)

21.1

1

20

Num.

2.1

4

2

(%)

1

2

1

Num.

17.0

1

3

(%)

8

2

2

Num.

Volcanic
Eruption

-

49

-

27

-

30

-

18

-

18

-

5

-

あ

JPT member report “Sentinel Asia Activity in 2019”
1

ADRC

Participation for the international Conferences 26th Session of the Asia-PacificRegional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-26)

2

AHA Center

AHA Centre Disaster Situation Update for Tropical Storm PODUL and Tropical
Depression Kajiki in Lao PDR

3

CAIAG

“Kumtor” Landslide in Kyrgyzstan (December 2019)4

Chiba University

Damage assessment of the 2019 Typhoon Hagibis

5

DMC

Preparation of the Disaster Risk Index for Tsunami, Drought, Flood and Landslide(Sri Lanka)
6

EOS

EOR Responses and Publications from EOS as a Data Analysis Node7

GIC-AIT

Activities carried out as Principal Data Analysis Node (P-DAN) for Sentinel Asia

8

GISTDAOPTEMIS system development

9

GISTDAGISTDA contribution in supporting Disaster management

10

ICIMOD

Mapping floods in Bangladesh caused by Cyclone Amphan to support
humanitarian response

11

ICIMOD

Streamflow prediction for flood warning and satellite-based inundation mapping
for the HKH region

12

ISRO

Support to Sentinel Asia

13

JAXA

Support from the Sentinel Asia community in response to the typhoon “Hagibis”

14

Malaysian

MYSA Establishment and Participation in Sentinel Asia

Space Agency
15

ManilaPresentation of DAN Updates, 7th Joint Project Team Meeting (JPTM) for

Observatory

Sentinel Asia STEP-3 (JPTM 2019), Bangkok, Thailand

16

MONRE

Summary of 2019 results through SA system activation

17

NARL

The 39th IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium(IGARSS) 2019

18

NARL

70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC)

19

RIKEN

Preliminary CNN-based inundation Depth Mapping in East Japan after the
Typhoon Hagibis

20

TohokuUniversity

Mapping Tsunami Disaster Impact of Indonesia by Satellite Remote Sensing

21

Udayana

3rd Human resource development and space data utilization for Disaster

University
22

Universityof

3rd Human resource development and space data utilization for disaster

Tokyo
23

VIGMR

Preliminary CNN-based inundation Depth Mapping in East Japan after the
Typhoon Hagibis

24

Yamaguchi
University

Contribution for EOR activity (Flood in Kyushu, Japan)

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)

Title

Participation for the international Conferences 26th Session of
the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-26)

Type ofInternational Conference

ActivityDate

26 - 29 November 2019

The 26th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) was held from 26 to 29 November 2019
in Nagoya, Japan. It was co-organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
and JAXA. APRSAF was established in 1993 to enhance space activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Attended by space
agencies, governments, and international organizations such as the United Nations as well as companies, universities andresearch institutes, this forum is the largest space-related conference in the Asia-Pacific region. APRSAF has fourWorking Groups: the (1) Space Applications Working Group (SAWG), (2) Space Technology Working Group (STWG),(3) Space Environment Utilization Working Group (SEUWG), and (4) Space Education Working Group (SEWG).
APRSAF participants share information about their activities and future plans for their countries and regions in eachworking group. APRSAF also supports international projects designed to find solutions to common issues such as
disaster management and environmental protection. The Sentinel Asia initiative is one such activity and involves the useof space-based information in the form of satellite images for disaster management. ADRC has been tasked with the
responsibility of receiving emergency observation requests from ADRC member countries and JPT members. ADRC
joined SAWG and reported on trends in Sentinel Asia emergency observation requests and its future action plans.

ADRC’s presentation

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on
disaster management (AHA Centre)

Title

AHA Centre Disaster Situation Update for Tropical Storm
PODUL and Tropical Depression Kajiki in Lao PDR

Type ofProviding satellite data for disaster emergency situation

ActivityDate

09 – 13/09 and 14/10 2019

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) is an intergovernmental organization which aims to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the ASEAN Member States andwith the United Nations and international organizations for disaster management and emergency response in the ASEAN
region. One of the main responsibility for the AHA Centre is to conduct Disaster Monitoring and Analysis in ASEAN
Region. In an emergency situation when there is a significant disaster occurred in one or more of the ASEAN members’
state, the AHA Center will carry out an emergency response. One of the things is issuing a situation update report regarding
the disaster. In September 2019, through Disaster Monitoring and Analysis units, The AHA Centre published a situation
update for the Tropical Storm PODUL and Tropical Depression Kajiki in Lao PDR. In this situation update, there is ananalysis of the floods area from the ARIA-SG team at Earth Observatory Singapore (EOS) for Sentinel ASIA. This productcontained in The AHA Centre Situation Report 09, 10, 11, 12, 13 September, and 14 October 2019. The AHA Centre alsoutilize the other product of Sentinel ASIA for internal correspondence.

(Product of Sentinel Asia in The AHA Center Situation Update, 2019)

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences (CAIAG)

Title“Kumtor” Landslide in Kyrgyzstan (December 2019)

Type ofSA annual report in 2019 –EORs-

Activity
Date

2019

1. Emergency Observation of Disasters Occurring in December 2019.
1.1. Landslide in Kyrgyzstan
Landslide was occurred in Eastern part of Kyrgyzstan. On the morning of December 1 2019.
Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences (CAIAG, Kyrgyzstan) made an Emergency Observation
Request (EOR) to Sentinel Asia on 12 December after landslide event. Among Data Provider Nodes (DPNs),
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), GeoInformatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) and National Applied ResearchLaboratories (NARL) provided their observation data. The information on the latest response by Sentinel
Asia is available from the following link. https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20191201KG.html

2. Landslide named “Kumtor” occurred in Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan on 1 December 2019 at 05:43 AM(https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2019/12/03/kumtor-mine-new-landslide/), a landslide of waste rockdumps occurred at the site in the valley of the Lysyi stream of the Kumtor mine. During the evacuation of
the employees, it turned out that two of them were missing.
2.1. The 26 rescuers and more than 10 employees of Kumtor Gold Company were involved in the searchbut unfortunately searches have yielded no results.
2.2. Due to the incident, open-pit mining had been temporarily suspended.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

2.3. The location on the dump where was landslide shifted abruptly does not threaten the main production
facilities of the mine and is located at a safe distance from the central quarry, tailing dump and Petrov
Lake. It is also noted that waste dumps do not contain any harmful substances and do not pose a threat
to the environment.

Product by Ulan Abdybachaev, CAIAG

3. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and activated of lockdown in Kyrgyzstan we non madevalidation of get results in field work.
4. CAIAG has network of hydrometeostations. The station TARA (Taragai) is locating on 3530 m
above above see level in this region where was landslide event and additionally equipped withan STS-2 seismometer. Young scientist of CAIAG Altynbek uluu Talantbek downloaded andpostprocessed seismogram for landslide event.

5. So, according in this seismogram was corrected the time of start of movement and it is 05:42:45,4 of 1
December (Local time) and that corresponds by Greenwich time is 23:42:45,4 at 30 November 2019. Fulltime of duration of movements is 60 second and ranking as (i) Duration of start (stage of preparing ofdisplacement) is 6,46 sec., (ii) duration of main displacement is 23,54 sec., and (iii) duration stage of rate
decay of displacement is 30 sec.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

The seismogram of landslide displacement, product by Altynbek uluu T., CAIAG

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

Chiba University, Japan

Title

Damage assessment of the 2019 Typhoon Hagibis

Type of Activity

EOR

Date

13/10/2019~16/10/2019

Typhoon Hagibis passed through Japan on October 12, 2019, bringing heavy rainfall over half of Japan. The International
Charter Space and Major Disasters (Charter) and Sentinel Asia was activated for this event on October 11, 2019, in response
to a request from the Japanese Government. Many optical and synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite images were
provided through the website. Our group attended the EOR from October 13. We downloaded several pre- and post-event
SAR intensity images and optical satellite images, to grasp the affected area. We generated the color composites of temporal
SAR images in the Kanto Region and Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The expansion of water regions had been observed in theTama and Tonogawa Rivers. Meanwhile, wide inundations were confirmed in the Chikuma, Naka, and Kuji rivers. For the
Chikuma river, visual interpretation was conducted. For the Naka and Kuji rivers, the inundations were extracted by thedifferences in the backscatter intensity.

Color composite of three-temporal SAR intensity images in the Kanto Rgeion

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Disaster Management Center (DMC)

Title

Preparation of the Disaster Risk Index for Tsunami, Drought,
Flood and Landslide

Type of

Disaster Risk Identification

Activity
Date

2019

The objective of this study is to develop Risk index maps describing the Flood, Drought (Drinking
water scarcity), Landslide, Tsunami disaster risk characteristics of the existing vulnerability andcapacity considering population as the element at risk. It will be the sources of information on
the level of risk in districts.
This risk index can be used primarily by local, regional, and central government officials to planand stimulate efforts to reduce risks from frequent hazards and to prepare for emergency
response and recovery. Further, this will support as a tool to compare the risk level in one district
to another. This will be served as a base for further detailed risk analysis for the preparation of
institutional policies, funding proposals planning, and statistics and DRM activities.
Historical flood data spanning for the past 2 decades was used to map the flood-prone areas of
Sri Lanka. Disaster Management Center – Sri Lanka has engaged in Sentinel Asia activations
during major disasters over the past decade. The value-added products generated during theseoccasions were used to identify and verify flood-prone areas in this project.
The following figures illustrate flood risk zones in three levels for some of the districts of Sri
Lanka.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Earth Observatory Singapore (EOS), Nanyang Technological
University

Title

EOR Responses and Publications from EOS as a Data Analysis
NodeType of

EOR and Publication

Activity
Date

Year of 2019

With the aid of the ARIA-SG system, our mission controllers, and in close collaboration with the Disaster
Response Lead in NASA JPL, we have responded to a total of 10 Emergency Observation Requests within the
Sentinel-Asia network in 2019. These responses include floods, typhoons, and earthquakes. A catalogue of
products produced from our responses can also be found on: http://ariasg-products.earthobservatory.sg/.

Figure 2: Flood Proxy Map created by the EOS team from the 2019 Sept Laos Flood (Left). AHA, an ASEAN disastermanagement organization, used our flood maps to compute exposure metrics (top right) to provide insights for supplies
to be flown into Laos (bottom left). Meeting at EOS with AHA representative post-response (bottom right).

We also reached out to users of our products and have managed to gather feedback from disaster management
stakeholders of how our products have been utilized. In particular, the AHA Centre (ASEAN Coordinating
Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management) has been actively using our products for its ‘Flash
Updates’ to local governments. During the Laos Flood event in September 2019, AHA Centre used our maps toestimate the amount of people affected and supplies needed for the humanitarian response effort (Figure 2).

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Figure 3: Comparison of FPM covering the Tokyo prefecture with aerial imagery from GSI (1b, 2b) and modified false color
composites of optical imagery from Planet (3b - reflectance, 3c - NDWI). From Tay et al. (2020).

Furthermore, responding to the Typhoon Hagibis EOR, using ALOS-2 data from Sentinel-Asia, together with
Planet’s satellite optical imagery and Geospatial Information Authority of Japan’s aerial imagery of flood
situation, has provided our responders a rare opportunity to extensively validate our flood mapping techniques(Figure 3). The findings from this investigation are published in Scientific Data:-

Tay, C.W.J., Yun, SH., Chin, S.T. et al. Rapid flood and damage mapping using synthetic aperture radarin response to Typhoon Hagibis, Japan. Sci Data 7, 100 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-0200443-5

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

Geoinformatics Center, Asian Institute of Technology

Title

Activities carried out as Principal Data Analysis Node (P-DAN)
for Sentinel Asia

Type of

Value-Added Product Generation for Disaster Activations

Activity
Date

01/06/2019 - 31/03/2020

As the Principal Data Analyses Node (P-DAN) of Sentinel Asia, the Geoinformatics Center of the Asian Institute ofTechnology (GIC/AIT), Our mission is to produce Value Added Product (VAP) as early as possible to support end-users
for their operations after disaster occurrence and coordinate with local partners to collect data for product validation anddamage assessment purposes.
Since June 2019, there were 23 activations requested by 15 countries in the region, including Bhutan, China, Fiji, India,
Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
GIC has processed 22 total number of requests for emergency observations during the period from July 1st, 2019, to
March 31st, 2020. Most of the requests were sent by the Philippines (4 activations; 18.18%), followed by Vietnam andIndonesia (3 activations; 13.64%), Japan (2 activations; 9.09%). The rest of the requests (45.45%) were submitted by
Bhutan, China, Fiji, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Turkey; each with one request for activation;and eight of these events were escalated to the International Disaster Charter (IDC).
Regarding to Project Management (PM) activities, The GIC/AIT has undertaken PM activities for two events, includingstorm and hurricane in Fiji (December 31st, 2019) and flooding in Indonesia (January 7th, 2020).

Value Added Product Generation in 2019 According to the Disaster Type

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency(GISTDA)

Title

OPTEMIS system development

Type of

Sentinel Asia STEP-3 Contribution

Activity
Date-

GISTDA has contributed to Sentinel Asia STEP-3 development by introducing, testing,and deploying OPTEMIS (Operation Planning Tool for Earth-observation Mission) toSentinel Asia system. OPTEMIS is an in-house developed tool by GISTDA. It is an
integrated system for requesting and optimizing the multi-Satellite tasking withfeatures of automatic workflow and one-stop service users friendly.

The success timeline is as followings:
1. OPTEMIS v1.0 was deployed and put into full service since JPTM 2019 as ofNovember 2019
2. It was continuously developing after the full deployment. (Currently, OPTEMIS

v2.0 was installed in ASGC server in November 2020 and currently undersystem and security test by JAXA. And OPTEMIS disaster reporting system(mobile app) is now under design and development phase.)Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency(GISTDA)

Title

GISTDA contribution in supporting Disaster management

Type ofProviding Satellite Data

Activity
Date

2019

GISTDA supported the disaster management activities by providing hundreds satellite images as a
Data Providing Node both MS and PAN images.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

Title

Mapping floods in Bangladesh caused by Cyclone Amphan tosupport humanitarian responseType ofICIMOD Blog

Activity

https://www.icimod.org/article/mapping-floods-in-bangladesh-caused-by-cyclone-amphanto-support-humanitarian-response/

Date

27/May/2020

Cyclone Amphan made landfall in Bangladesh and eastern India on 20 May 2020. The massive tropical cyclone resulted
in the loss of at least 96 lives and caused extensive damage to infrastructure. To make matters worse, communities in thesouthwest coastal districts of Bangladesh are now facing floods from the subsequent heavy rains and tidal surges while
having to adhere to social distancing norms during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The flooding is interrupting thereturn to normal life for millions of people who were relocated to community shelters (despite fears of an outbreak of
COVID-19) after the cyclone struck.
ICIMOD prepared flood inundation maps for Bangladesh by analysing satellite imagery from the Copernicus Sentinel-1
satellite and Sentinel Asia. These maps provide a synoptic overview of the extent of inundation caused by the floods.
They can aid disaster management agencies in prioritizing relief and rescue activities in the worst affected areas.

Figure. SAR based flood inundation map on 22 May 2020 for the Cyclone Amphan affected area.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

Title

Streamflow prediction for flood warning and satellite-based
inundation mapping for the HKH region

Type ofICIMOD Blog

Activity

https://www.icimod.org/article/streamflow-prediction-for-flood-warning-and-satellite-basedinundation-mapping-for-the-hkh-region/

Date

02/August/2020

The monsoon floods in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region are worsening the humanitarian crises caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic and the recent Cyclone Amphan in Bangladesh and India. Millions of people have been affected in
Nepal, India (Bihar and Assam), and Bangladesh. The crisis is far from over, with more monsoon rain forecast in the
coming days and weeks.
In this context, timely information on current and upcoming floods can help government and humanitarian agencies
manage disaster response and relief activities better.

Figure. Figure 4: Inundated areas in different regions: a. Nepal Terai; b. Bangladesh; c. Assam, India; d. Bihar, India.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

INDIAN SPACE RESEARCH ORGANISATION (ISRO)

Title

Support to Sentinel Asia

Type ofProviding Satellite data as Data Provider Node (DPN)

Activity
Date

DD/MM/2019

During 2019, NRSC, ISRO has contributed in the Sentinel Asia activities as Data Provider Node. NRSC,
successfully responded to various Emergency Observation Requests of Sentinel Asia

ISRO has(EOR’s) pertaining to 11

countries (shown in Fig 1) with the help of 30 Indian Remote Sensing Series (IRS) satellite datasets comprising ofResourcesat – 2/2A and Cartosat series.
NRSC, ISRO has attended all meeting organized by Sentinel Asia and made presentations on the support provided by
ISRO and on various technical activities being carried out by NRSC.

ISRO has also represented in Face-face tomeeting of Steering Committee held at Si Rachi, Thailand and participated and made presentations at 7th JPTM held at
Bangkok at the end of 2019. Delivered lecture and conducted practical to all the participants on flood early warning using
space based inputs.
During 2019, ISRO has activated sentinel Asia towards support to Cyclone “FANI”, Assam an Bihar floods-2019 and as
part of it has received data from ALOS PALSAR-2 and THEOS-1 satellite datasets.

ISRO Support to Sentinel Asis EOR’s during 2019

Fig 1: EOR’s responded by NRSC, ISRO during 2019 (Satellite datasets are shown in brackets)Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Title

Support from the Sentinel Asia community in response to thetyphoon “Hagibis”

Type of

EOR

Activity
Date

October 2019

A Category V typhoon “Hagibis” hit Japan on 12 October 2019, and brought record-breaking rainfall
and strong winds in eastern Japan, causing widespread, devastating floods and mudflows. Over 100
people were killed, approximately 500 people were injured, and innumerous number of houses weredestroyed or affected by the disaster.
Faced by the disaster risk, ADRC on behalf of JAXA and the Japanese authorities submitted an EOR
to Sentinel Asia on 11 October, prior to the occurrence of disaster, which contributed to prompt andopportune support from the Sentinel Asia community. For this EOR, as DPN members, GISTDA,
ISRO, NSPO/NARL (together with JAXA) conducted emergency observations with their satellites andprovided the data. Then, as DAN members, AIT, Chiba University, EOS, Riken, Yamaguchi University,
provided analyzed products. Also, this EOR was escalated to the International Disaster Charter(“Sentinel Asia Escalation”), with Yamaguchi University playing the role of Project Manager. On
behalf of the Japanese people, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all Sentinel Asia
members who have supported us.

support from DPN members

support from DAN members

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

MALAYSIAN SPACE AGENCY (MYSA)

Title

MYSA Establishment and Participation in Sentinel Asia

Type of
Activity

MYSA Establishment and Participation in Sentinel Asia

Date

2019

On 20th February 2019, has marked another achievement for space The Malaysian Cabinet has
approved the establishment of Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) through the merging of MalaysianRemote Sensing Agency (MRSA) and National Space Agency (ANGKASA).
This mergence which operationalizes in December 2019, is set to improve work efficiencies by
optimizing the use of existing resources and facilities to ensure the development and management of
the national space sector in a strategic, organized and comprehensive manner.
Previously, Malaysia through ANGKASA has involved in several activities organized and hosted
under Sentinel Asia (SA) platform. As we face the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,
Malaysia looks forward to working closely with all stakeholders including SA in solidifying
international solidarity to realize the potential of space sector for the benefit of humanity.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Manila Observatory

Title

Presentation of DAN Updates, 7th Joint Project Team Meeting(JPTM) for Sentinel Asia STEP-3 (JPTM 2019), Bangkok,
ThailandType of

Meeting

Activity
Date

12-14 November 2019

Please write about your activity related to Sentinel Asia in 2019.

Ms. Flordeliza P. del Castillo represented the Manila Observatory (MO), as a DAN, during this meeting.

She presented

the report (in attached jpeg of ppt slides) of our DAN activities for 2018. These slides included:An orientation of the beginnings and historical activities of the MOOur mission and research programs

Our EO mapping and future plans-

The continuous generation of static and dynamic layers largely through projects or programmatically,-

Satellite-based extraction of spatial information through EO,-

Periodic EO process documentation for downloading of satellite imageries and RS-GIS mapping,-Training on EO through mapping as well as upload of EO maps in the MO GeoportalMO’s EO protocolMO’s future plans as an instituteFeedback on the MO’s EO protocol was given during the JPTM 2019, that it takes too long. With this in mind, Ms. Ma.
Flordeliza P. del Castillo and Mr. Randell G. Teodoro were authorized to directly download satellite imageries for EO inaccordance with each’s expertise: Ms. Castillo for flooding; Mr. Teodoro for earthquake.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Department of national remote sensing – VietNam Ministry ofnatural resources and environment

Title

Summary of 2019 results through SA system activation

Type of

EOR

Activity
Date

24/06/2019
05/09/2019
11/11/2019

24/06/2019:
Heavy rain occurs in many districts of Lai Chau province, the rainfall is measured from 50mm to 80mm. Heavy
rains prolonged with flash floods and floods causing damage to many state projects; houses, property, crops of thepeople and initially recorded damage to people. Immediately after a flash flood disaster, we sent a request for
support to Sentinel Asia through ADRC, as a result received 2 types of satellite images as follows:
On June 26, received 02 ALOS-2 scenes (pre-disaster scene); On June 28, received 02 scenes of ALOS-2(post-disaster scene); On June 29, received two ALOS-2 scenes (post-disaster photos - color composite);
On June 29, received 01 scene of Resourcesat-2 AWiFS-2 (post-disaster scene)
05/09/2019:
Northern of Vietnam and provinces from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh will have heavy rains from 1st to 5th
September 2019, rainfall over the whole range from 300-700mm. Many areas may be subject to flash floods andflooding. Through support from SA system we have received the following results:
On September 7, received 01 scene of Resourcesat-2A AWiFS-2; On September 8, received a FOMOSATFS5 G000 MS L1A scene; On September 10, received 02 AIT products (with digital data in the form of
SHAPE file); On September 10, receipt of 02 EOS products (with digital data in SHAPE file format);
Product form Web GIS
11/11/2019:
Due to the influence of the circulation of typhoon No. 5, from October 31st, heavy rains spread from Phu Yen to
Quang Nam and the Central Highlands provinces, causing the rivers to rise rapidly. Through support from SA
system we have received the following results:
On November 9, received 03 IRS-R2A scenes; On 11/11 and 12/11 received 05 THEOS level 2A scenes(Pan and MS); On November 14, received 05 ALOS-2 scenes (post-disaster scenes); On 11/17 received
01 FORMOSAT-5 scene; Product form Web GIS

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Integrating VNRedSat satellite image into digital terrain model data of 3 villages isolated by heavy rains, flooding
and flash floods (Xa Na village, Na Meo commune, Quan Son district, Thanh Hoa province)

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

National Applied Research Laboratories (Taiwan)

Title

The 39th IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Symposium (IGARSS) 2019

Type of
Activity
Date

International Symposium

07/28/2019 – 08/02/2019

The 39th International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) took place from 28
July to 2 August 2019 in Yokohama, Japan. IGARSS has been hosted by the IEEE Geoscience &Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) annually since 1981. It is representative of an international
conference in the domain of global earth science and remote sensing. Dr. Franz Cheng from the
National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs), representing Steering Committee of Sentinel
Asia, is honored to be invited to deliver a Plenary Keynote Speech on "Sentinel Asia-Evolution andCurrent Status." After the Plenary, Dr. Cheng receives the privilege to meet the Japanese Emperor
Naruhito and to report the Sentinel Asia contributions to countries in Asia Pacific region. Dr. Cheng
also exchanges information with another keynote speaker Prof. Dr. Gilberto Câmara, Director of
GEO (Group on Earth Observations), on operations of Sentinel Asia. Dr. Câmara warmly invited
Sentinel Asia to join GEO as an Observer. (Note that APRSAF is currently holding a GEO Observer
membership.)

Dr. Cheng delivered a Plenary Keynote Speech in IEEE IGARSS 2019 Symposium (Fig 1)
The Japanese Emperor Naruhito gave a talk to welcome the scientists (Fig 2) and met distinguishedguests including GEO Director Prof. Dr. Gilberto Câmara (Fig 3 far left).

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

National Applied Research Laboratories (Taiwan)

Title

70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC)

Type of
Activity
Date

International Conference

10/21/2019 – 10/25/2019

70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA), was held from 21 to 25 October 2019 in Washington, D.C., United States.
IAC is the world's largest annual integrated space meeting, attracting thousands of space experts,
scholars, manufacturers, and representatives of space agencies from various countries. As a means topromote Sentinel Asia to the global community, NARLabs presented “A Preliminary Evaluation of
Sentinel Asia in Response to Natural Disasters in Asia Pacific Region” in IAF (International
Astronautical Federation) Earth Observation Symposium. Dr. Shirou Kawakita of Sentinel Asia
Secretariat and Dr. Koji Suzuki of Asian Disaster Reduction Center co-authored this paper. This
paper showcased preliminary statistics of Sentinel Asia performance and recent efforts in improving
the system in Step-3 phase. Current endeavors in the evolved new emergency response system werealso reported, they included OPTEMIS (Operation Planning Tool for Earth-observation MISsion,
contribution from GISTDA, Thailand) and implementation of cloud servers (contribution fromAcademia Sinica, Taiwan, and ISRO, India).

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

Geoinformatics Unit, RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence
Project (AIP)

Title

Preliminary CNN-based inundation Depth Mapping in East
Japan after the Typhoon Hagibis

Type of

Disaster Emergency Response

Activity
Date

14/10/2019

On October 12, 2019, Typhoon Hagibis hit East Japan, triggering floods and landslides. The Geoinformatics Unit,
RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project, conducted a preliminary mapping of the affected areas using Sentinel1 SAR data provided by ESA. To detect the flooded areas, we carried out a change detection analysis using pre-event
SAR data acquired on October 6, 2019, and a post-event SAR data from October 13 (local time), 2019. Then, to detect
the inundation depth, we regression model from Sentinel-1 detection to DSM-based inundation depth. The regression
model was based on a deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN).

Flood depth mapping results.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku
University

Title

Mapping Tsunami Disaster Impact of Indonesia by Satellite
Remote Sensing

Type of

Workshop, Research

Activity
Date

28/Nov./2019

Our group was funded by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) to conduct a joint research with Indonesiancolleagues from National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, Remote Sensing Application Center and National Disaster
Management Authority (BNPB). In this collaboration, we conducted a comprehensive research on mapping theimpact of the tsunami events in 2018 in Indonesia with combined approach of remote sensing with advanced
machine learning, field observation and GIS analysis, throughout the international collaboration. We achieved asignificant goal to develop a robust satellite remote sensing method and mapping technology for identifying
tsunami impacts and vulnerabilities in emergency response efforts. The outcomes are expected to be utilized inemergency observations and disaster response efforts. The statistical analysis of field data provided the useful
insights to understand tsunami vulnerability of Indonesia with the form of “Tsunami Fragility Curve”. This is also a
remarkable achievement to contribute on understanding tsunami risks and structural vulnerabilities and urban
planning for tsunami-resilient community.
The workshop titled “J-RAPID Report Symposium for Anak Krakatau volcano eruption and Sunda Strait tsunami”
was hosted by JST and RESTEK (Ministry for Research and Technology) in Jakarta on 28 Nov., 2019.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Udayana University

Title

3rd Human resource development and space data utilization for Disaster

Type of

Workshop

Activity
Date

09/01/2020

Workshop 3rd Human resource development and space data utilization for Disaster hold on 3rd floor of the
Postgraduate Building, Udayana University, Denpasar, Bali. Thursday, 9 January 2020. This event
aims to present advanced research on disaster management through human resources development
and remote sensing utilization. Internationally we are inviting several acknowledged experts to be
keynote speakers at this event. By inviting our existing and potential partners, we are looking forward
to strengthening and developing existing collaborations and partnerships and exploring a newcooperation form. This event is designed to accommodate intensive discussion based on collaborationinterests. Invitees and Participants attended a total of 50 people, including the following agencies.

1. Director of the Postgraduate Program at Udayana University
2. Head of The Institute for Research and Community Service, Udayana University
3. YUCARS, Yamaguchi University
4. CReSOS Udayana University
5. Head of Institute for Marine Research and Observation (IMRO-KKP)
6. The University of Tokyo
7. National Research Institution for Earth Sciences and Disaster and Resilience (NIED)
8. Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
9. Bali Provincial Disaster Management Agencies (BPBD)
10. Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG)

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

The University of Tokyo

Title

3rd Human resource development and space data utilization fordisasterType ofConference

Activity
Date

09/01/2019

The University of Tokyo participated in the 3rd international conference on Human resource development andspace data utilization for disaster, organized by Udayana University and Yamaguchi University, with thesupport of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. The
University of Tokyo presented selected outputs from research and development, entitled “Applications ofEarth Observation Data from Small-scale Satellites for Disaster Management by Combinations with Open
Geospatial Data.” The presentation initiated discussions on further research and development of utilizing thespace infrastructure and resources for disaster risk management, and also technical transfer of the advanced
applications over international collaboration programs.

Slides in the presentation showing a result of automated co-registration and application to change detection.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019
Organization

Economic Geology and Geomatics Department, Vietnam
Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources (VIGMR)

Title

Organized workshop “Natural Disaster Management for
Sustainable Development” from 10th – 15th September 2019
Implemented projects on Disaster Risk Reduction

Type of

Research and Workshop

Activity
Date

2019

Economic Geology and Geomatics Department belongs to Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources - a basic
public research institution under the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), functioning in
conducting R&D, consultancy in the fields of geology and mineral resources. VIGMR joined Sentinel Asia in 2018 andreported on its activities related to disaster management and its future action plans.
In 2019, Economic Geology and Geomatics Department has implemented several activities related to Sentinel Asia as
below:- Organized Workshop “Natural Disaster Management for Sustainable Development”, 10th – 15th September 2019.
The workshop is highly appreciated the presence of HE Mr. Paul Jansen, Ambassador of Belgium in Vietnam and otherguests from Disaster Management Authorities of Vietnam and other interested groups includes: Researchers, Policy
Makers, NGOs, Community Leaders and DRR specialists. The participants shared knowledge and expertise with policy
makers, universities, research institutions and industry and private partners; analysis of climate change impact,
consideration of increased risk and vulnerability as well as actions for capacity building, awareness raising andinfrastructure works. They pointed out the needs to establish a multi-actor partnership between Belgian and Vietnamesestakeholders to share knowledge and practice on the topic of natural hazards management (landslide and other hazards)
in mountainous areas, where people are most vulnerable. They also shared the newest technology solutions for disastermanagement in Vietnam. In the framework of the workshop, VUB and VIGMR scientists investigated some landslideareas in Hoa Binh province, trained the volunteers (Geo-observer) using a smartphone app and collected data of landslide
events. Other field-trip surveys were carried out to investigate large landslide spots in Đà Bắc district (22 nd -25 th October2019) and Kim Bôi district (24th – 25th November 2019).
-

Implemented project “Establishing a multi-hazard and resilience observatory for Hanoi” granted by UKRI in

cooperation to BGS. With goal of building a multi-hazard observatory, the comprehension data including landslide, soil
space, weathering crust, rainfall, river discharge, flood level, v.v … of Hanoi catchment were collected and analyzed. The
satellite images of Red River catchment also were collected and analyzed to establish land cover and land use maps. In
addition to satellite data, field surveys were conducted to choose the preferred location for the observation station. The
established observatory in an experimental scale will contribute to enhance resilience and minimize negative impacts for
Hanoi area as well as improve knowledge of multi-hazard and its chain-action mechanism in the study of DRR for rivercatchment.

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Workshop “Natural Disaster Management for Sustainable Development” held in Hanoi

Field-trip survey at landslide spots in Hoa Binh province

Sentinel Asia Activity Report in 2019

Organization

Center for Research and Application for Satellite Remote
Sensing, Yamaguchi University

Title

Director

Type ofContribution for EOR activity (Flood in Kyushu, Japan)

Activity
Date

August 2019

Yamaguchi University, Center for Research and Application of Satellite Remote Sensing, was established in
February 2017. There are 4 missions at this center; (1) to promote world-class research in satellite remotesensing, (2) to cultivate human resources capable of promoting a wide range of research in satellite remotesensing and space technology, (3) to contribute to disaster information analysis and improve public safety andsecurity, and (4) to promote local industry and create new industry/business for space utilization technology.
Also, Yamaguchi university has been providing VAPs as DAN in case of EOR. We provided flooding productwhich is covered Saga Prefecture when tragic heavy rain hit in August 2019.