The Anticipation Hub Working Group on “Earth Observations for Humanitarian Action” presented the Needs Assessment for identifying opportunities to integrate Earth Observation (EO) across the cycle of anticipatory action. First, Karen Dall (GRC) discussed looking across the Early Action Protocols (EAPs) of the Red Cross, and how they could be used to understand gaps and opportunities for EO, including assessing vulnerability and exposure. Charles Huyck (Image Cat, Inc.) identified where existing EO platforms could integrate with EAP’s to pre-calculate anticipated impact and assess data needs. Veronica Bell (ARC) presented the final steps for addressing community needs and improving accessibility and the intent to present the findings of this needs assessment to the Anticipation Hub in the Spring of 2022.
Next, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) team presented on the
Copernicus Emergency Management Services capabilities for supporting Anticipatory Action, through highlighting selected examples of CEMS products and service components. CEMS provides geospatial information to all emergency management actors before, during, or after a crisis. Vera Thiemig presented on the CEMS Flood forecast and monitoring component (see more
here) which operated global and provides probabilistic flood forecasts for the next 30 days as well as real-time, satellite-based flood monitoring. Jesus San-Miguel showcased the
European Forest Fire Information System which supports early action among others through the provision of fire danger up to ten days ahead of a fire event. It was also noted that there is a limit in anticipating wildfires, as 96% of all European wildfires are caused by humans. Emanuele Sapino introduced the CEMS Mapping service that provides a tailored set of products for emergency response for any natural or man-made disaster. Two service components were highlighted, the first of which is the on-demand Risk and Recovery Mapping (RRM) component, delivered within 5-15 days of an event and covers preparedness and post-disaster recovery. The second is a Rapid Mapping component that provides a standardized set of products based on EO data and delivered within 24 hours for immediate response efforts.
This session highlighted a small selection of information currently available by Copernicus EMS and others for supporting specific Anticipatory Action-related hazards, including floods, droughts, and wildfires. However, CEMS includes any natural and man-made disaster such as, e.g., earthquakes, wind impacts, tsunamis, volcanoes (see list of past activations
here). Some of those have not yet been explored by the community for use in anticipatory action protocols.Furthermore, opportunities exist to improve validation of EO products by using recovery efforts to inform future hazard events (e.g., reviewing exposure data of past disasters to understand the length of recovery/restoration time to inform future events), and to better integrate EO into monitoring and evaluation activities that can improve the understanding of impacts to livelihoods, inform evacuation planning, and installation of shelter needs. CEMS recognizes the value of EO validation with an established service component focusing on only this.
Dr. Diana Mantel