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Indian Ocean Tsunami — Space Resources for Relief While
today’s space based systems cannot predict an earthquake and
its after effects – Tsunami – remote sensing and communication
satellites provide the means for assessing the extent of damage and
enable the relief operators to use this data for planning the mitigation
measures as well as facilitate the establishment of an emergency communication
system. In the aftermath of the tsunami that hit India on December
26, 2004, ISRO put into operation all its resources towards disaster
mitigation. A
flyaway VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal), 10 INMARSAT telephones
and four Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) phones were airlifted to Port
Blair for augmenting the telecommunications links. VSAT based video
conferencing facilities were set-up to connect seven taluk headquarters
to the Secretariat. A&N Administration used VSATs at Diglipur,
Mayabandar, Rangat, Port Blair, Hut Bay, Car Nicobar, Camorta and
Cambel Bay for relief and rehabilitation. Regular video-conferencing
facility was established between these locations and the mainland
via INSAT-3E. Satellite based telephone connectivity, as well as ISDN
connectivity for video-conferencing were enabled at the above locations
through the Telephone Exchange at ISRO’s Space Application Centre,
Ahmedabad. Transponder
capacity on INSAT-3E was earmarked for supporting large capacity telephone
links from A&N islands to Kolkata, which was connected to Delhi.
Telephone links from one place in Andaman and Nicobar islands to any
other place through transportable VSATs were arranged. Telemedicine
facilities were in operation at two hospitals at Port Blair (GB Pant
Hospital and INS Dhanvantari Hospital), and Indira Gandhi Hospital
at Car Nicobar to enable the local Doctors to communicate with specialty
hospitals like Apollo Hospital at Chennai and Amrita Institute of
Data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites (IRS-1C, IRS-1D, OCEANSAT-1 and RESOURCESAT-1) over affected areas were used for analysis and damage assessment and the information was provided to Crisis Management Group of the Ministry of Home Affairs and State agencies. Satellite data for Car Nicobar, Chennai and Kakinada (AP), Tamil Nadu coast (especially Nagapattinam) and Kerala were acquired. To
obtain high resolution data under cloud/haze conditions, aerial survey
using the aircraft of National Remote Sensing Agency was undertaken
for the assessment of the extent of inundation, affected agriculture
areas, damaged coastal vegetation, damage to coastal landforms, breaches,
beach erosions, and damage to the clusters of habitations. The satellite
imageries clearly indicated large-scale damage to the southern tip
of Great Nicobar Island and the Indira Point. Trinkat Island of the
Nancowri Group had been separated into two parts due to the water
impoundment in the central part. As a member of the International Charter on Disaster, ISRO activated the Charter on Dec 26, 2004 and the satellite data from foreign satellites such as SPOT, RADARSAT and ENVISAT over Port Blair, Car Nicobar, Cudallore and Nagapattinam were received.
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