Voices from the Ground: Activating the Charter, where it all begins
“Whenever I hear in the media that there has been a disaster I immediately think, will the Charter be activated?”, Claire Tinel, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), French space agency, Charter member expert. For those of us working with the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters, it is a common thought. Disasters of any type and magnitude cause suffering for those impacted. At the Charter we aim to support civil protection authorities and the international humanitarian community when a disaster strikes by combining Earth observation assets from different space agencies with rapid mapping expertise. This unique initiative mobilises agencies around the world through a single access point that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at no cost to the user.
This support begins with an initial activation by an ‘Authorized User’ requesting help from the Charter. An Authorized User is typically a representative of a national civil protection agency. Following the successful review of the AU’s request, the Charter is activated to acquire satellite data of the disaster. Whether a flood, a fire, or any other emergency, the first step is to establish the nature and location of the disaster so the Charter team can provide the most appropriate satellite data needed to generate value-added products. The detailed information provided by the Authorized User, via an online form, allows us to establish whether visual or radar data are the most appropriate for the activation. The resulting value-added product may take the form of an impact map, like the one below from the devastating flood in southern Spain in November 2024.
By combining archived and newly tasked data over the region of interest the value-adding teams develop before and after maps like the one below showing devastating flooding due to Cyclone Remal, in western Bangladesh, on 25 May 2024.
For every activation the generation of value-added products is overseen by a ‘Project Manager’ who is responsible for the quality of the resulting products. The Project Manager also liaises with the Authorized User to ensure that the resulting products meet their needs. In the case of dynamic emergencies, where the region of interest changes, the Project Manager may request additional satellite data.
Sandro Martinis, value-adder, German Aerospace Center or DLR: “It usually takes several hours to extract the relevant crisis information from the original satellite data. Depending upon the scale of the activation we may receive more than 1000 satellite images to select from.” The data provided by the Charter helps with tasks like mapping affected areas, damage assessment and planning for emergency response. Sandro adds: “The maps and information products generated allow end users to make decisions like, which bridges can still be used, or whether it is safe to mobilise firefighting teams. Knowing that the end user is urgently waiting for such information makes it a stressful but also rewarding job.”
For any given activation it can take one to two days for the first crisis-information to reach the end user. Is it worth the wait? Georgiy Korolev, from the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters or EMERCOM, Authorized User for the Russian Federation provides an answer: “A helicopter can show the local picture, but a satellite image provides the large scale.”
Activations are typically closed within 30 days after the initial activation. By this time all crisis information attainable from satellite data has been provided to end users and the emergency has typically moved on from one of response to recovery. From an end user perspective, does a Charter activation work? Rafael Pereira Machado, the National Center for Risk and Disaster Management of Brazil (CENAD), Authorized User confirms it does: “We had major flooding in Brazil. We immediately activated the Charter so we could plan a sequence of expeditions and seek for survivors. It was extremely relevant for us.”
One of the Charter’s goals is to have Authorized Users in all countries around the world. To access the services of the Charter a country needs to nominate its national civil protection agency to become an Authorized User. The process involves an initial registration, followed by training in how to activate the Charter.
For the final word, back to Claire from CNES: “Our work begins with an activation made by an Authorized User. By combining the resources of space agencies and space data service providers the Charter assisted in 85 activations during 2024.”
In its 25th year the Charter continues to support disaster relief organizations to save lives and livelihoods following major disasters.
For more information on becoming an Authorized User, consult the ‘How to become a user’ page on our website.