Remote Sensing for Disaster Response

The International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" was established in 2000, initiated jointly by the European Space Agency and the French space agency CNES in the wake of discussions at the United Nations' UNISPACE III conference earlier that year. The Charter created a standing mechanism through which authorized users, typically national disaster-management authorities or the United Nations, can request emergency tasking of Earth-observation satellites from any of the Charter's member space agencies, now numbering more than a dozen and spanning the United States, Europe, Japan, India, China, and several other countries, free of charge, for a single coordinated activation covering the affected area. Since its founding, the Charter has been activated many hundreds of times for earthquakes, floods, cyclones, oil spills, and wildfires around the world.