Disaster Response Capabilities Improve with Technology

摘要

The last decade has seen an explosion in the utilization of new technologies and data sources, many of them space based, for disaster response and relief efforts, but more must be done to turn data into usable information and get it to those on the front lines, a panel of experts agreed.rnFirst responders and relief workers around the world now benefit from new capabilities enabled by the Internet, GPS, communications satellites, cellular networks and faster computer processing. There are more Earth observing satellites on orbit collecting more data than ever before. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have only recendy begun to be used for disaster response and are quickly becoming a favored option for the persistent, targeted surveillance they provide. Disaster response and relief efforts are only starting to scratch the surface of what crowd-sourced information - information from social networking services - can offer.