Activities Internationally

Don Raymond, Lori White, Robert Landry, Vincent Decker, Alice Deschamps, Calin Ungureanu, Goran Pavlic, Vern Singhroy, and François Charbonneau

Primary Collaborators:

Public Safety Canada

Department of National Defence

Mapping Information Branch (NRCan)

Department Emergency Operations Centre (NRCan)

Introduction

The Emergency Management Team at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) provides expert support on an international basis similar to that made available for domestic emergencies. For additional background please refer to the following web page:

CCRS Emergency Management Activities in Canada

International Emergency Response 2008

In 2008 CCRS was heavily involved in responding to flooding events for the international community.  In response to an urgent DND request, CCRS monitored several areas of Afghanistan throughout the month of March in 2008 (see Figure 1).  There had been extensive flooding in Southern Afghanistan the previous year, so the exercise was conducted as a precautionary measure.  The Emergency Response Team at CCRS received an award from the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for their efforts.

Severe flooding began in Haiti in late August 2008.  This was the result of four major storms hitting the area in less than one month.  In late August tropical storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav pounded the Caribbean country in succession.  Hurricane Hanna next hit in the first week of September, and the northern part of the country was then struck by Hurricane Ike on September 7, 2008.  CCRS was once again asked to contribute flood mapping expertise. The levels of flooding were mapped from September 9th to September 12th as shown in Figure 2, and the resulting products were made available to DND, humanitarian organizations, and the International Charter on Space and Major Disaster. In addition, there were daily communications with USAid, who were coordinating the humanitarian effort in Haiti.

In early May 2008 cyclone Nargis hit Yangon, Myanmar, causing extensive flooding, severe damage to infrastructure, and significant loss of life (62,000 were estimated dead).  The Canadian Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) was on standby to assist the people of Myanmar.  CCRS provided up-to-date geo-spatial information to DND on the status of the floods (see Figure 3).  A time-series of images was processed for May 7, May 10 and May 12.