(2009/8/15 National Science Council press release)
Typhoon Morakot on August 8, 2009 was the deadliest typhoon to impact central and southe Taiwan in recorded history. The storm produced copious amounts of rainfall, totaled above 2,500 mm, in mountainous regions of Chiayi County, Kaohsiung County, Pingtung County and Taitung County. Apart from wreaking catastrophic damages on roads, bridges, houses, factories, schools, etc., the extreme amount of rain triggered enormous mudslides and landslides, and severe flooding throughout southe Taiwan, leaving many people dead or missing.
In response to the emergency caused by Typhoon Morakot, the National Science Council (NSC) immediately employed remote sensing images from FORMOSAT-2, an Earth observation satellite operated by the National Space Organization (NSPO), to support rescue and reconstruction efforts. Toward this end, it has conducted a comprehensive survey of disaster-stricken areas. Activities are summarized below:
1. Remote sensing images for rescue efforts. The following organizations worked together to analyze daily images of disaster-hit areas, including landslip lakes, large-scale landslides, etc., taken by FORMOSAT-2. The annotated data in tu were distributed to the central and local govement response centers for reference in their efforts to reduce the occurrence of secondary disasters. Organizations included: the NSPO, the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction and the FORMOSAT -2 Imaging Distribution Center, which is a cooperative entity of Geo-spatial Infromatics System Research Center of National Taiwan University; Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research of National Central University; Disaster Prevention Research Center of National Cheng Kung University; and FORMOSAT-2 Image Application Distribution Center of National Taiwan Normal University.
2. Comprehensive survey of disaster-stricken areas. The NSC is mobilizing academic experts in the country to conduct an overall survey of disaster-hit areas. And an in-depth data analysis related to water conservation, slope land and landslides is being conducted. The effort should result in useful recommendations for follow-up reconstruction and recovery.
