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Their disastrous effects, however, can be lessened significantly if well-conceived disaster-response plans and mitigation strategies are in place prior to their occurrence.

The Workshop noted that developing countries were particularly subject to natural disasters on a scale that overwhelmed the capacity of the societies concerned to cope with their aftermath.

In many cases, just one such destructive episode was sufficient to destroy the social and economic infrastructure, including the communications network.

A single major disaster could disrupt the distribution of food and water supplies, medical services, and both the local and international communication links of the stricken communities.

The Workshop noted that many of the national and regional emergency response agencies and services were not aware of the full spectrum of applications of space technology. Of particular concern was the lack of awareness of the Earth observing systems that could provide essential data for the prevention of disasters or for the mitigation and relief of their effects.

To a lesser degree, the same observations applied to satellite communications, particularly regarding recent developments in mobile communications.

In the case of natural disasters, such technology could restore communications with the local headquarters for rescue and relief operations as well as with the outside world.

During the last session of the Workshop, the participants defined four categories of disaster-related topics that needed to be addressed: data supply, information generation, decision-making and implementation/execution.

To develop outlines of recommendations that could be useful in disaster-related activities, the participants assigned themselves to one of the above groups according to their professional background. II. SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS

In recent years, the frequency and magnitude of major disasters, whether of a natural, technological or ecological origin, have made the world community aware of the immense loss of human life and economic resources that are regularly caused by such calamities.

Particularly hard hit are developing countries, for which the magnitude of disasters frequently outstrips the ability of the society to cope with them.

It was stated that this was due to the fact that 95 per cent of all disasters occurred in developing countries.

Over the past 20 years, the frequency and severity of natural disasters have increased.

Over this timespan, 3 million people have been killed and 1 billion have been affected by natural disasters.

Hardly a week goes by without a major disaster.

Since the earthquake in Kobe, Japan, in January 1995, there have been over 20 large disasters reported in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Civil strife, such as the recent events in Rwanda, also affects people, the economy and the infrastructure in ways similar to a very large natural disaster.

To date, relief continues to be the main form of disaster management.

Approximately 95 per cent of all resources spent on disaster-related activities are for relief and recovery operations.

Nevertheless, disasters can be reduced if adequate research and proven prevention, preparedness and emergency measures are taken.

The effects of disasters can only be reduced through the deployment of the very best systems and knowledge, and following well-prepared overall national and regional contingency plans.

A single hazardous event can destroy the social and economic infrastructure, including communications systems, that may have taken years to develop and upon whose vitality local and national economies depend.

Even in normal times, particularly in developing countries, the capacities of these infrastructures are often strained to manage even the most basic social and economic development programmes, and a single disaster can severely disrupt the community lifelines that provide food distribution, water supplies, health-care services, waste disposal and communications locally and with the rest of the world.

In order to realize their fullest potential, developing countries need a sustained period of social and economic growth.

Major impediments to sustained growth are disasters, which often result in an affected country shifting its economic policies to sustain the energy required to cope with disaster response and subsequent reconstruction.

These shifts can intensify a country ' s financial imbalances and deplete available resources.

In many cases such a situation can be prevented.

Frequently, the difference between saving and losing lives and property is an effective warning of an impending disaster.

Timely warning of a major natural hazard can reduce its consequences: at least, people may have enough time to save their lives; at most, they have an opportunity to relocate or otherwise protect their property.

A. The role of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction

and the contribution of space technology The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) 1990-1999 operates within the framework of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations and was proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 44/236 of 22 December 1989 with the objective of reducing, by concerted international action, especially in developing countries, the loss of life, property damage and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters such as earthquakes, windstorms, tsunamis, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, infestations of grasshoppers and locusts, droughts and desertification, and other calamities of natural origin.

The IDNDR secretariat recognizes that space technologies, including remote sensing, global positioning and satellite communications systems, offer disaster managers valuable tools that can be used to prepare for, mitigate and, in some cases, prevent the effects of disasters.

Appropriate applications of space technologies can also be used to respond more effectively to needs resulting from disasters.

IDNDR provides an international mechanism to focus attention on the benefits of applying these and other technologies.

Importantly, it directs the disaster management community beyond the issue of simply using state-of-the-art space technologies in disaster relief and early warning because it promotes a recognition that the national infrastructures that make possible these applications must be encouraged and supported.

Because of the typically high infrastructure investment that is required for constructing and managing space-based programmes, national, and local, systems are out of reach for most of the countries hardest hit by natural disasters.

Therefore, the IDNDR secretariat is seeking ways of encouraging the development of cooperative approaches for sharing space-based resources.

Although the sovereignty of the country affected by the disaster should be recognized, the planning and administration of this process must also include recipient countries.

The development of an autonomous basic research capability in scientific and technical disciplines, including space-related fields, should be a main goal as advocated in ongoing activities within the United Nations, most notably through the Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Such capability would promote creative thinking to adapt, modify and create new technologies that could contribute to national development and the reduction of casualties and property damage.

B. Regional disaster-related problems and projects

There are many disaster-reduction challenges confronting Southern Africa, the major hazards of concern being drought, epidemics, cyclones and storms, floods and armed conflict.

In 1991 and 1992, more than 20 million people in this region were defined as severely drought affected.

Drought in this region is also associated with other hazards, such as flash floods and epidemic diarrhoea, including cholera and dysentery.

In 1995 there have been flash floods in Botswana, northern Namibia and parts of Southern Africa.

Unfortunately, for Southern Africa, cholera and dysentery constitute a serious threat.

In 1993, more than 50,000 cases of cholera and up to 73,000 cases of shizella dysentery were recorded in five Southern African countries.

In 1994, more than 171,000 cases of dysentery were reported for Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, claiming nearly 600 lives.

Irrespective of whether the hazard is meteorological, such as a cyclone, epidemiological, such as a cholera outbreak, or hydrological, such as a drought, Southern Africa ' s most disaster prone communities are those already vulnerable due to poverty, isolation, and dependence on degraded land and location in crowded informal settlements.

Disaster reduction is synonymous with lowering this vulnerability, a daunting challenge facing Southern African governments during a time of fiscal restraint and economic structural adjustment.

In Zimbabwe, remote sensing and GIS projects started as small disjointed donor-funded projects that were designed to test the applicability of the technology in different fields of application.

The earliest pilot projects were in the fields of land-use planning and vegetation monitoring.

At that time, satellite data came in as computer compatible tapes in the diplomatic baggage of the technical personnel from donor countries.

In 1987, ERSI was inaugurated as a service centre to spearhead advances in the use of remote sensing and GIS technology.

The facility was set up as a joint project between the governments of Zimbabwe and Germany.

With time, it was realized that there was a need to coordinate the projects that were being developed all over the country in order to take advantage of already existing data sets, hardware and software to rationalize human and technical resources.

The research council of Zimbabwe established a subcommittee on remote sensing in an attempt to coordinate remote sensing activities in the country.

A working group on GIS was also established.

ERSI is presently involved in capacity building, both in-house and within the existing and new-user community.

The limited success in the control of land degradation and desertification may be attributed to a number of factors that include lack of data relating to the spatial and temporal dimensions of the problem.

High-resolution satellite remote sensing data is suitable for the collection of spatial data for broad planning and monitoring.

The possibility of assessing in particular the spatial and temporal dimensions of the problem of desertification is enhanced.

In Ghana, the most extensive use of high resolution satellite data to map current land use and cover for the country is currently taking place within the Remote Sensing Applications Unit of the Department of Geography, University of Ghana.

The project is using satellite image data to map land use at the scale of 1:250,000 as a part of the Environmental Information Systems Development component of the Ghana Environmental Resources Management Project (GERMP).

GERMP is part of the implementation of the Environmental Action Plan prepared by the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The other sets of data to be produced include topography, meteorology, soil suitability and land ownership.

These databases are expected to be available by 1997 to be organized into an environmental database that will be developed and shared in an environmental information systems network.

The Desertification Control Unit within EPA will be expected to use the maps to assess the medium-term and longer term effects of the many environmental and land-use programmes and projects currently being undertaken in all the ecological zones of the country, but particularly in the northern savannahs.

In the United Republic of Tanzania, recurring fire hazards, whether natural or human-made, have swept the vegetation off of various areas of the country except in the very wet rain forest.

Deliberate or accidental fires have had disastrous effects on the ecology and economy of the areas concerned.

In developing countries such as the United Republic of Tanzania, however, the deliberate burning of vegetation continues to aid farming and hunting of game in forested areas.

The impact of fire on forest land can be detected by using remote sensing techniques and GIS.

With respect to technology management, the latest GIS programs, IDRISI and TOSCA, have already been introduced in the United Republic of Tanzania through the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

It may be concluded that remote sensing images are a useful database source when used in conjunction with sufficient ground surveys in combating forest fires.

In 1992 a project was initiated in South Africa to develop a monitoring system for drought and vegetation conditions.

This operation requires information at regular intervals at a national level.

The advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) instrument carried by satellites of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States of America is the only commercial data source available to satisfy the needs and requirements of a fully operational exercise of this magnitude.

Unique properties, such as daily coverage of a large area, facilitate regular inventories to be made of natural events on a national scale.

Daily NOAA/AVHRR satellite images are used as a primary input source to produce monthly inventories of the whole country in the form of vegetation index maps.

Analyses and comparisons of current and historical maps enable the objective assessment of the effect of prevailing or emerging drought conditions in a timely fashion.

With proper calibration and the establishment of a continuous long-term database, this information will become a strong tool for decision makers and land managers.

C. Current and future possibilities for satellite communications

Traditional terrestrial telecommunications, particularly in remote areas of disaster-prone countries, have been costly to install, difficult to repair and vulnerable to damage.

Accordingly, such systems have been virtually useless in areas where geography or climate have inhibited their installation and maintenance, and thus have been of limited value to disaster managers.

Fixed satellite services, though useful in disaster planning and warning, have been of relatively limited effectiveness in disaster response, principally because of the need for large receiving and transmitting antennas and their associated high power requirement, and vulnerability to effects of disasters.

Mobile satellite services have been one of the most recent and dynamic communications technologies available to disaster managers.

This low-cost communication capability has proven, even in the relatively short time of its commercial availability, to offer dramatic results in relief efforts that have not been possible before.

Furthermore, as a complement to remote sensing and the global positioning system (GPS), space technology and GIS information management applications, mobile satellite services have the capability to dramatically improve risk assessment, disaster preparedness, early warning, and onset and post-disaster relief operations.

These services are now available to areas previously considered inaccessible because of their location, terrain, weather or demography.

In the future, global mobile communications systems, such as the many planned low Earth orbit (LEO) systems, will greatly enhance the disaster mitigation efforts of relief organizations.

Providing truly global personal communications, these systems, including the proposed Globalstar system, will provide a wide array of opportunities for information exchange through voice, digital data transfer and paging.

An alternate, or back-up capability, will also be provided to ground-based emergency alerting and local services for immediate reporting and request for assistance capabilities in natural disasters, accidents and other emergencies as well as aviation and marine navigation.

A few years ago the mobile satellite technologies that had for so long been employed on an experimental basis were only then beginning to be used in institutions.

Mobile satellite services offering land, aeronautical and maritime mobile communications are now being used regularly in disaster applications and will be used increasingly throughout the 1990s and beyond.

The growing awareness and consideration of these societal issues together with advances in spaceborne technology mean that effective, affordable and global mobile satellite communications and remote sensing capabilities that should significantly reduce the devastating effects of natural disasters should soon be implemented.

Because mobile satellite communications systems are independent of the local telecommunications infrastructure, they are not affected by natural disasters and they are frequently the only means of communications to and from a stricken area.

The Inmarsat satellite system can be used in all phases of dealing with natural disasters, monitoring and prediction, warning, and early intervention and emergency operations, and can also provide communications support for rehabilitation and reconstruction after a disaster strikes.

The 1994 IDNDR World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, held at Yokohama, Japan, identified telecommunications and information systems as two of the main elements of its " Strategy for a safer world and plan of action " , which was subsequently endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 49/22 B of 20 December 1994.

The Tampere Conference in 1991, as well as the World Conference on Telecommunications Development of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), held at Buenos Aires in 1994 and the subsequent Kyoto Plenipotentiary Conference, endorsed the principle of maximum use of existing satellite and terrestrial telecommunications systems for disaster mitigation.

This includes the preparation of national disaster emergency and contingency plans, establishment of pools of expertise and equipment for such purposes, inclusion of emergency telecommunications systems in national development plans and revision of national regulatory policies to allow effective deployment of telecommunications in disasters and emergencies.