IN31D-04
NASA Response to Nepal Quake
Wednesday, 16 December 2015: 08:45
2020 (Moscone West)
Ernesto Diaz1, Frank Webb2, David S Green3, Tim Stough4, Dalia Kirschbaum5, H Michael Goodman6 and Andrew Molthan6, (1)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)JPL/NASA/Caltech, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States, (4)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (5)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (6)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, United States
Abstract:
In the hours following the magnitude 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake on April 25, 2015, NASA and its partners began the process of assessing their ability to provide actionable data from a variety of space resources and scientific capabiltiies in order to provide responders with actionable information to assist in the relief and humanitarian operations. Working with the USGS, NGA, ASI, and JAXA, in the hours and days following the event, the team generated a number of scientific data products that were distributed to organizations responding to the event. Data included, ground based geodetic observations, optical and radar data from international and domestic partners, to compile a variety of products, including “vulnerability maps,” used to determine risks that may be present, and “damage proxy maps,” used to determine the type and extent of existing damage. This talk will focus on the response process, highlighting some of the products generated and distributed and lessons learned that would be useful for responding to future events that would improve the effectiveness of such a broad, agency wide response.
