On the 23rd of Mai the president of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Mr Albrecht Broemme, together with other members of the THW management visited the Earth Observation Center of DLR in order to extent the long-lasting good collaboration between both organisations. During that stay experiences with data and maps provided by the ZKI and used by the THW were exchanged. These products aimed at facilitating THWs practical work, for example in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the floods in Germany. The major benefit of earth observation for disaster operations is the possibility of large-scale and prompt mapping based on satellite data in cases of urgent crisis situation as well as for preparatory situation mapping.
In addition, the ongoing research activities in the field of airborne remote sensing and satellite communications were discussed and the current developments within DLR’s Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) in support of crisis management were presented.