Risk Returns

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Sentinel Asia – space and

ICT technologies towards disaster

risk reduction across the Asia-Pacific region

Kazuya Kaku, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

he Sentinel Asia (SA) initiative was established in 2005

as a collaboration between space agencies and disas-

ter management agencies, applying remote sensing and

Web-GIS technologies for disaster management in the Asia-

Pacific region. A step-by-step approach for the implementation

of this dissemination system has been adopted, aiming to

contribute to disaster risk reduction across the region.

Asia has been seriously damaged by natural disasters over the last 34

years. The effects of disasters are compounded by the high popula-

tion level (close to three billion). Disasters occurring in Asia comprise

37 per cent of the worldwide total. The region has sustained 61 per

cent of global fatalities and is home to 89 per cent of the total victims

associated with such disasters.

(Natural Disasters Data Book 2008)

The Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) proposed

SA in 2005 to showcase the value and impact of Earth observation tech-

nologies, combined with near real-time Internet disseminationmethods

and Web-GIS mapping tools for disaster management support in the

Asia-Pacific region. APRSAF was established in 1993 in

response to the declaration adopted by the Asia-Pacific

International Space Year Conference (APIC) in 1992,

to enhance the development of each country’s space

programme and to exchange views on future cooperation

around space activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

A collaborative concept

The SA initiative aims to:

• Improve safety in society through information and

communication technology (ICT) and space technology

• Boost the speed and accuracy of disaster prepared-

ness and early warnings

• Minimize the number of victims and social/

economic losses.

Its architecture is designed to operate initially as an

Internet-based, node-distributed information distribu-

2012

Joint Project Team Meeting in Manila, the Philippines, in July 2010

Image: JAXA