Remote Sensing for Human Disaster Management

The occurrence of natural and man-made disasters around the world has always been an issue of high importance. The size and frequency of disasters is on the rise, mainly due to the changing climate; hence such events are increasingly dangerous. Impacts include social, environmental and economic, and more specifically the loss of lives and injuries to humans and animals, and the damage and destruction of urban and rural areas, as well as communication services. Natural disasters cannot be prevented, however they can be managed, with the aim of minimizing their effects. Methodologies and tools for disaster management need to keep up with the increase in size and occurrence. Remote sensing has proven to be very useful in the management of disasters such as cyclones, large wildfires, earthquakes and tsunamis, for example during the warning phase of an event, during the observation and action period, or during relief and reconstruction activities. Remote sensing has the benefit of being able to quickly provide high temporal and high spatial resolution data of large target areas. This book presents numerous studies that have used/proposed remote sensing as a disaster management tool in some form. Disasters covered include typhoons, snow disasters, erosion, landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, forest fires, sandstorms, oil spills and earthquakes. Also included is the application of spaceborne remote sensing data for risk management of urbanisation on land degradation and geo-hazards, and remotely sensed nightlight data to map hydrometeorological hazards. Several studies have been included that focus on the technical side of combining remote sensing data with strong computer processing and modelling tools. The power of remote sensing data as a disaster management tool increases when it is combined with other types of data and tools, to provide a pipeline for pre and post disaster management.