** January 2023 News from Sentinel Asia Project Office **- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *Topics:
1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters
2. [Interview] Dr. Sang-Ho Yun, Earth Observation of Singapore
3. How to Send an Emergency Observation Request
4. Using the Sentinel Asia Operation System, OPTEMIS- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *1. [News] Emergency Observation of Disasters (as of 30 January)(1) Flood and Landslide in Philippines on 27 December, 2022 (GLIDE Number FL-2022000385-PHL)
Heavy rain during holidays caused landslides and floodings in the Philippines. Philstar reported
the number of deaths counted 33 as of 29 December and most fatalities was in the province ofMisamis Occidental on Mindanao island, where 15 people died from drowning or rain-induced
landslides.
(https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/12/29/2234054/death-toll-christmas-shear-linefloods-landslides-climbs-33)
The Manila Observatory (MO) made an Emergency Observation Request (EOR) to Sentinel
Asia on 28 December, 2022. Among Data Provider Nodes (DPNs), the Centre for Remote
Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) of the National University of Singapore, the IndianSpace Research Organization (ISRO), and the National Applied Research Laboratories (NARL)
provided data. Among Data Analysis Nodes (DANs), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
provided its Value-Added Products (VAPs). Information on the latest response by Sentinel Asia
is available at the link below.
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2022/article20221227PH.html

Post-disaster satellite image (TELEOS-1) provided by CRISPPost-disaster satellite image (Resourcesat-2A) provided by ISRO

Post-disaster satellite image (FORMOSAT-5) provided by NARL

Value-Added Product by AIT

- * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *2. [Interview] Dr. Sang-Ho Yun, Earth Observation of Singapore
The Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) was created in 2008 with the mission to conduct
fundamental research on earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and climate change in and around
Southeast Asia, toward safer and more sustainable societies. Since their joining Sentinel Asia, theywork very actively as a Data Analysis Node (DAN) member and provided Value Added Products toSentinel Asia’s Emergency Observation Requests (EORs). The Sentinel Asia Secretariat interviewed
Dr. Sang-Ho Yun regarding the backgrounds of their contribution.
Dr. Sang-Ho Yun is the Director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore –Remote Sensing Lab (EOS-RS) and Associate Professor of the Asian Schoolof the Environment (ASE) and the School of Electric and Electronic
Engineering (EEE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.
Prior to joining NTU, he was a geophysicist and radar scientist at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He received the 2018 NASA Exceptional Public
Achievement Medal and the 2014 NASA Exceptional Early Career Medal for
innovative use of satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data in support of
rapid post-disaster response. Prior to his work at JPL, Sang-Ho was a
postdoctoral fellow at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California.
He received his PhD in geophysics and MS in electrical engineering from Stanford University in
California and his BS in earth system science from Seoul National University in Korea.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
The Sentinel Asia Secretariat very much appreciates your participation in Sentinel Asia in 2017 andyour continuous efforts as a Data Analysis Node (DAN) in providing Value Added Products (VAPs).
Especially, international humanitarian aid agencies including UNWFP and JICA are very interested
in and very much appreciate your damage estimation map for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Weshare this gratefulness, too. Can you introduce EOS to our readers?
Dr. Sang-Ho Yun, EOS
We are sincerely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Sentinel Asia. It means a lot to us when
we learn that our products are well-received by users. Our participation in this collaborative initiative
has also greatly benefited our research institution.
The Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), founded in 2008, is dedicated to conducting fundamental
research on earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and climate change in Southeast Asia, withthe goal of promoting safer and more sustainable societies. This mission is particularly important forSingapore and Southeast Asia, where the threat of natural hazards is exacerbated by the impact ofclimate change and rising sea levels.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
In 2021, the Remote Sensing Lab was established. Could you also introduce it?
Dr. YunThe EOS Remote Sensing Lab (EOS-RS) is a new flagship laboratory that uses satellite remotesensing data for rapid disaster response and hazard monitoring. To give a tangible example, EOS-RS
generates damage proxy maps (DPMs) and flood proxy maps (FPMs), using satellite Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) data. SAR data is particularly useful for Southeast Asia as radar signals canpenetrate clouds and provide imagery day and night. Our maps are frequently shared on Sentinel Asia,
to aid regional and local stakeholders in their disaster response efforts.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
We suppose that you have only a few natural disasters in Singapore. Could you tell us the backgroundof your participation in Sentinel Asia and what you expect from it?
Dr. YunAs Singapore experiences relatively few natural hazards and disasters, it provides a stableenvironment for reliable operations and data gathering. That puts EOS in an ideal position for
implementing rapid discovery and access to relevant satellite data and processing and disseminating
value-added geospatial information for decision-making.
Joining Sentinel Asia was a logical step for us as it allows us to put our technical know-how into
practice and have a direct impact through our research and innovation. Additionally, being a part of
Sentinel Asia enables us to gather timely feedback from users, which enables user-driven
improvements to our algorithms and products. For instance, user queries about how to interpret our
DPMs prompted us to add a color bar and legend to our maps, which helps to improve the readabilityof our products.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
From Singapore, the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) and the National
University of Singapore (NUS) are members of Sentinel Asia as DPN and DAN, respectively. Do you
cooperate with CRISP? If so, do you have any examples of such cooperation in Sentinel Asia
Emergency Observation Requests (EORs)? And if not, do you have any plans for cooperation withthem?
Dr. Yun
EOS-RS was established in late 2021 and since then we have been building our team and undertaking
a variety of research projects while supporting disaster response efforts in the region. Also, we are
actively collaborating and in the process of building collaborative relationships with other institutions,
including NUS and CRISP, as well as with industry.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Regarding your activities with Sentinel Asia, are there any experiences that stand out?
Dr. YunWitnessing the level of cohesiveness and sincere spirit amongst members at Sentinel Asia’s annual
Joint Project Team (JPT) meetings has been heartening. Through this space-based disastermanagement support system, we have also expanded our networks and had the opportunity to connect
directly with major disaster management organizations. Our interactions with ASEAN Coordinating
Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) and Asian Disaster
Preparedness Center (ADPC) have been particularly beneficial, as the feedback we received hashelped to improve our mapping products, making them more lightweight and easily accessible foron-ground responders in disaster situations who may have limited access to the internet following adisaster event. We also actively collaborate with many local, regional, and global organizations formore efficient and effective support for response and recovery.
We have also received positive attention from Data Provider Nodes (DPNs) of Sentinel Asia like
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who have provided support for satellite tasking
requests and access to archived data, allowing us to produce advanced mapping products.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Are there any Sentinel Asia EORs in which you provided VAPs that stand out, and why?
Dr. YunWhen Super Typhoon Rai (Odette) made landfall in the Philippines, we received requests from theUnited Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Manila Observatory via the Sentinel-Asia
network. We were able to quickly produce two FPMs and six DPMs which we distributed within aweek of receiving the satellite data. The AHA Center utilized our maps in their Situation Update
reports. This event was particularly significant as it required us to make use of radar data acquired
over six orbital tracks by JAXA’s ALOS-2 and Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites covering a vast area

of 418,700 km2. Of all the events we have responded to thus far, this event set a new record for EOSRS: it produced the most mapping products for a short period of time and covered the largest area ofany response.
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2021/article20211214PH.html

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Are there any EORs that functioned effectively? And why?
Dr. Yun
We are proud to share that many EORs have functioned effectively, as we strive to create maps thatare useful for on-the-ground responses. Here are some examples:
1. The DPMs we generated in response to the Semeru volcano eruption in 2021 https://sentinelasia.org/EO/2021/article20211204ID.html were used by Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) to prioritize areas for field surveys, and they also confirmed that our maps
closely matched the results of the field surveys. As a DAN, every EOR is an opportunity forgaining on-ground feedback to improve our algorithms and products, hence it is great thatusers of all levels keep this in mind while evaluating the crisis.
2. Across the 2019 Kajiki Tropical Storm, 2020 Super Typhoon Goni, 2021 Super Typhoon
Odette/Rai, 2022 Storm Nalgae, and 2022 Typhoon Noru, AHA Center also used our FPMs
as reference for their situation update reports. In some of these instances, our maps were used
to estimate populations affected and the amount of supplies that should be sent for emergency
and relief. While we know that the maps we create are published for all Sentinel Asia members
to access, it is heartening to know that these maps are also being utilized for situationalawareness and decision-making processes for real responses.
*Details of the above mentioned EORs are on the Sentinel Asia website:
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2019/article20190905VN.html
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2020/article20201101PH.html
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2021/article20211214PH.html
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2022/article20221029PH.html
https://sentinel-asia.org/EO/2022/article20220925PH.html

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
What are the advantages of Sentinel Asia?
Dr. YunAs a part of the Asia-Pacific region, known to be one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world,
EOS-RS aims to conduct user-driven innovation of space-based remote sensing technology to support
response to natural disasters or crises. Our goal is to potentially help save lives in the crucial moments
after a disaster strikes, and to contribute to informed decision-making for effective response andrecovery toward more resilient societies in the region.
Sentinel Asia aligns perfectly with our vision as it provides a platform for members to understandtheir roles and actively participate and collaborate in helping EOR requestors in times of crisis,
regardless of nationality. The well-established workflow of the platform enables a seamless flow ofrequests from users (including timely information on geographic areas of interest and event timelines),
information on satellite observations from data providers, and updates about what other products arebeing generated by other contributors. This makes coordination amongst DANs like us and DPNs
extremely smooth, allowing for rapid decision-making on our side and the creation and disseminationof our mapping products.
Furthermore, Sentinel Asia also enables us to gain support from corporates and external organizations
to improve our responses. For example, upon our membership to the Sentinel Asia network, we
approached the Amazon Web Services Open Data program and were provided free cloud storage for
Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in the Asia-Pacific region. This greatly reduced the time
for data downloads, speeding up our responses.

Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
Sentinel Asia greatly contributes to the promotion of solutions to socioeconomic challenges, whicharementionedin“APRSAF
NagoyaVision”
https://www.aprsaf.org/annual_meetings/aprsaf26/outcome_documents.php . For Sentinel Asia to be
included in these solutions in Southeast Asia further, what is needed?
Dr. YunAs a DAN, EOS-RS generates satellite SAR-based maps. We always validate our maps before
dissemination, and often a few words in the corner of a news media report were all we find for ourvalidation. It would be helpful if Sentinel Asia could also encourage the regional community to share
any timely information relevant to validation, such as a simple GIS layer ofobserved/reported/crowdsourced areas of damage or floods even if they are just a few locations. This
would provide an additional opportunity for quality assurance and ensure that our maps are as
accurate as possible at the time of dissemination.
From our perspective, this would align with the Nagoya Vision, in advancing solutions and sciencetechnology capability.
Sentinel Asia Secretariat:
As the final question, could you tell us what your expectations are of Sentinel Asia and how you willcontribute to Sentinel Asia?
Dr. Yun
We have no doubt that Sentinel Asia will continue to make important contributions to supporting
response efforts in the face of the ever-growing frequency and intensity of natural disaster events andthe impacts of ongoing climate change.

- * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *3. How to send an Emergency Observation Request
JPT member organizations are entitled to send an Emergency Observation Request (EOR) for
disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Please refer to https://sentinel-asia.org/elearning/Emergency_Observation_Request.html.
EOR Order Desk:
Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC)
HP: http://www.adrc.asia/
E-mail: sarequest@adrc.asia
FAX: +81-78-262-5546,
TEL: +81-78-262-5540- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *- * - * - * - * - * - *4. Using Sentinel Asia Operation System, OPTEMIS
Sentinel Asia launched a new operation system, OPTEMIS. Please refer to the website on how tocreateanaccount
for
OPTEMIS.
https://sentinel-asia.org/elearning/Emergency_Observation_Request.html+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+===+=
Copyright 2023 the Sentinel Asia Secretariat
Sentinel Asia Project OfficeSatellite Applications and Operations Center (SAOC)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Ochanomizu Sola City, 4-6 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8008 Japan
E-mail: Z-SENTINEL.ASIA@ml.jaxa.jp
TEL: +81-3-6435-6785
FAX: +81-3-5777-1580