APPLICATIONS of

REMOTE SENSING & GIS in

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Elements of Geo-informatics (609)

Vinay
Roll no: 003
M.Sc. Natural Resource Management
University School of Environment Management
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Dwarka

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India is vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters. All disasters are spatial in nature. GIS
techniques act as a decision support tool. Decision making can possible by analysis of different
GIS layers. Currently socio-economic and geo-spatial data is useful for management and
planning of disasters as well as tackling of disastrous condition. Various departments and
agencies who are stakeholders using GIS in the disaster management process. GIS, RS & GPS is
useful in disaster management applications & for decision making. Evolution of computer
technology and availability of hardware is helpful for rapid expansion of GIS in both disaster
research and practice.

1. Introduction and World & Indian scenario

For mankind, disasters are unavoidable in nature and have been recurrent events despite
problematic ever since time immortal. The disasters mostly natural likely to hit without warning
and are supposed to have high magnitude, frequency, complexity and economic impact
worldwide. The disasters cause threats to humans, settlements, economic assets and are supposed
to have high risk proportions in areas of dense population. It is for the reason that most of the
world’s nastiest disasters tend to occur between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn. This vast belt from both sides of equator is inhabited by the developing countries of
the world, where the problems of disaster management are exclusive due to the apparently
competing needs between basic requirements for people and economic growth. In 2015, Asia-
Pacific belt remained as the world’s most disaster prone region. Around 160 disasters out of
world’s 344 recorded ones were reported in the region, which account 47% of that total. The
total population affected by such calamities was about 59.3 million with a total of more than
16,046 deaths in the region. South Asia went through highest percentage of fatalities with a total
of 14,647 deaths (around 64% of the total) due to 52 disasters that took place in the year 2015
and out of which the maximum deaths (around 8,790) were reported from Nepal earthquake
tragedy. The total economic loss in Asia and the Pacific was more than US$ 45.1 billion in the
year 2015, besides much more losses indirectly. About 90 storms were recorded worldwide that
took place in 2015, out of which half of the storms occurred in Asia-Pacific, affecting 9 million
inhabitants with a loss of US$ 11.8 billion. Two-fifth of all disasters was related to floods,
responsible for 37% damage to human lives and 25% economic loss.

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Indian Scenario
As is well documented, the Indian subcontinent is susceptible to various natural disasters such as
droughts, cyclones, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, forest fire, landslides and avalanches. Out of
35 total states/ Union Territories in the country, 25 are prone to disasters. In the country, on an
average, about 50 million people are affected by disasters every year, besides million dollars loss
to property. Literally, a disaster is a sudden accident or a natural calamity that leads to serious
damage to property or lives of living beings. According to World Health Organization (W.H.O),
a disaster can be defined as “any occurrence that cause damage, ecological disruption, loss of
human life, deterioration of heath and health services on a scale, sufficient to warrant an
extraordinary response from outside that affected community or area”. A natural disaster owes its
origin to the natural processes occurring on the Earth. A disaster is a major adverse event or
disruption, occurring over a relatively short time, resulting from natural or human induced
activities, causing heavy damage to human lives, material, environment or economy, thus,
making it difficult to combat such losses. During such calamity developing countries go through
much more costs compared to developed ones, more than 95% of all deaths caused by calamities
in developing countries, and losses due to natural events are 20 times greater (as GDP %) in
developing countries than in developed countries.

2. Types of Disasters
Broadly, disasters can be natural or man-made which occur in many different forms with
different magnitude of destruction and, range of time duration. A natural disaster is a type of that
happens due to natural process or phenomenon, causing damage to lives, health, property,
environment and economy of the region. This type of disaster includes earthquakes, volcanoes,
landslides, floods, storms (hurricanes and tornadoes), tsunamis, and cyclones, killing people on
large scale and costs billions of dollars damage to property and the environment every year
worldwide. Today, however, due to population explosion and urbanization, there is a sharp
increase in severity of damage due to frequent disasters. There are some disasters that happen
without any warning such as earthquakes and tornadoes, causing much more damage
unexpectedly to infrastructure and other productive capacity. Storms like hurricanes and
typhoons are considered as one of the most seriously damaging natural calamities because of
their size and magnitude. Disasters like floods and cyclones cause damage to a larger extent to

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both infrastructure and agriculture. Man- made disasters are the end results of technological
hazards or human error. Fires, stampedes, industrial accidents, oil spills, transport accidents, war
and nuclear explosions/radiation are some of the examples of man-made disasters. Like natural
disasters, these events also cause serious damage to human lives, property and economy of the
state.

Disasters have also been categorized into different sub-groups depending on their source/ origin.
These five subgroups are as follows:
Sub-Group I- Water and Climate Related Disasters
This sub-group includes cyclones, tornadoes and hurricanes, heat wave and cold wave,
avalanches, floods, droughts, hailstorm, sea erosion, thunder, cloud burst and lightning.
Sub-Group II- Geologically related disasters
This includes landslides, mudflows, dam failures/ dam bursts, mine fires and earthquakes.
Sub-Group III- Chemical, Industrial & Nuclear related disasters
In this sub-group the chemical, industrial and nuclear disasters have been accounted.
Sub-Group IV- Accident related disasters
This category includes oil spill, building collapse, bomb blasts, festival related disasters,
electrical disasters and fires, forest fires, urban fires and transport related accidents.
Sub-Group V – Biologically related disasters
This sub-group includes pest attacks, biological disasters and epidemics, cattle epidemics and
food poisoning.

3. Disaster Management and application of RS and GIS

Disaster Management can be defined as the organization and management of resources and
responsibilities (activities) while dealing with emergency situations with all humanitarian aspects
during different stages viz., preparedness, response and recovery in order to reduce the impact
and damage caused during disasters. In this process, the objectives of the concerned experts are
to monitor the condition, simulate the disaster occurrence to have better models for prediction,
propose suitable contingency plans and finally preparation of spatial databases. The management
of calamities either natural or man-made requires both manual as well as technological efforts.
So far as technological aspect is concerned, the management of disasters can be done using

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technology like remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS). A large amount
of multi -temporal spatial data is required for the management of natural disasters. RS and GIS
are very effective tools in management of disasters. These techniques can be used effectively for
the assessment of disaster severity and subsequent impact of destruction. Together with the
growing applications of RS, the use of GIS has become equally important for the purpose of
cartography (map composition) and enumeration tasks. In disaster management, the satellite data
can be used during various phases of the management, such as preparedness, prevention,
preparedness, relief and reconstruction; mostly used for monitoring and warning tasks. During
the past few decades the RS technique has been an effective operational tool in preparedness and
warning phases for floods, droughts and cyclones. In preventive phase, the GIS are used in
assessing the severity and impact of destruction due to disasters. Integrated with global
positioning system (GPS), the GIS in disaster relief stage, is very useful in search and rescue
operations in areas devastated by calamity. And in preventive phase, the GIS can be used to
manage large amount of data needed for the assessment of vulnerability of the hazard. It can also
be used for better planning, emergency operations designing, evacuation means during
preparedness stage and for the incorporation of satellite data with other significant data in proper
design of warning system. This technology can also be used in search and rescue operations
during relief stage. The GIS can be used to organize the information related to damage due to
disaster and after disaster for census report preparation during rehabilitation phase.

4. Principles of Disaster Management

• The management of disasters is the duty of all spheres of government.
• Resources should be used efficiently that are available for daily purpose.
• All related organizations should work as an extension from their core business.
• Each individual is responsible for his/her safety during disaster.
• A better planning should focus on large scale events during management practices. The
planning should significantly recognize the differences between disasters and incidents.
• The planning should take into account the type of physical environment and the
population structure.
• The arrangements should recognize the cordial role of non-government organizations.

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5. Phases of Disaster Management
Disaster Preparedness: All those actions that are implemented before the occurrence of a
disaster. For example: Preparedness plans; emergency exercises/training; warning systems.
Disaster Impact: This phase includes all the damages and negative consequences on human
lives, property, environment and their economy.
Disaster Response: This phase includes activities during the occurrence of a disaster. For
example: Public warning systems; emergency operations; search and rescue.
Rehabilitation: All those actions that are meant to rebuild lives and livelihoods during disaster
for long term sustainable development. It accounts all those measures which assist in increasing
the resilience of food, water systems and other resources in case of future disasters and
emergencies.
Mitigation: It includes those activities that reduce the effects of disasters. For example: building
codes and zoning; vulnerability analysis; public education.

6. Management of Disasters
The UN General Assembly Resolution declared the period of 1990- 2000 as International
Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. In response to this, the Government of India has
undertaken several initiatives, shifting the focus from post-disaster approach to pre-disaster
preparedness, including preparation of Vulnerability Atlas of India; to minimize the loss to life
and property as a result of these disasters. Besides, the Disaster Management Act, 2005 lays
down institutional and coordination mechanism at national, state and district level.
6.1 Management of EARTHQUAKE using geospatial technologies (remote sensing and
geographical information system):
To provide rapid and reliable assessment report of the destruction caused by earthquakes, the
analysis of RS imagery in particular high-resolution aerial imagery has been a very effective
technology. The techniques like Photogrammetry and GIS are considered as modern tools in
exploring the earthquake and other associated phenomena. The methods like terrestrial
photogrammetry was first time used to document and report the earthquake damages caused in
Friaul, Italy. There are several efforts to use RS, photogrammetry, and other information
sciences and systems in the areas damaged by earthquake. Some of them are associated with long
term and short term prediction, and some are linked with recording and assessment of the

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damage caused. The maps related to epicentre of the earthquake are being used to generate
seismic hazard maps. The seismic zoning map happens to be a basic informative tool in the code
for designing resistant structures related to earthquake. Figure 1 describes the seismic zones of
India. Along with the data associated with earthquake, structural design, geological factors, soil
data etc., are very useful for the preparation of building codes which aid in designing earthquake
resistant structures. The Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of
Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, collaborates with national and
international agencies/organizations for vulnerability analysis and mitigation practices.

Figure-1 Seismic zones of India (source www.mapsofindia.com)

6.2 Management of LANDSLIDES using geospatial technologies (remote sensing and

geographical information system)
Landslides occur in a wide range, depending on speed of movement, type of movement (slide,
fall, flow, spread, topple), material involved (debris, rock, soil), and also the triggering
mechanism (rainfall, earthquake). The use of satellite data, aerial photos and RS techniques helps
in the data collection during the disaster. The computerized techniques and other systems would
help in storage, retrieval and analysis of the data. In the preventive phase of disaster, satellite
imagery can be used for landslide inventory and the mapping of factors related landslide
occurrence, such as faults, lithology, geo-morphological setting, slope, land use and vegetation.
The dimension of the landslide features relative to the ground resolution of the RS data, landslide

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inventory mapping has been very essential. Satellite imagery with better spatial resolution and
stereo capability (SPOT, IRS) are very helpful in recording and documentation of the past
landslides. In future, it is expected that Very High Resolution (VHR) imagery, such as from
IKONOS-2, might be very useful for landslide inventory. The imagery of satellite data can also
be used to have data on the parameters (soils, geology, slope, geomorphology, landuse,
hydrology, rainfall, faults etc.) related to landslide assessment. For the classification of lithology,
land use and vegetation, multispectral images are significantly important. Also for
geomorphological mapping or terrain classification, Stereo SPOT imagery has been widely used.
SPOT or IRS images can be used to prepare digital elevation models (DEM). The techniques like
GPS, photogrammetry and Radar interferometry have been essential during disaster preparedness
stage. Landslide hazard zonation map included a map separating the draw out varying degrees of
predictable slope stability. The landslide hazard zonation map has an inbuilt factor of
forecasting, consists of map showing varying degree of slope stability and therefore, probabilistic
in nature. A landslide hazard zonation map has ability to aid in some of the following individual
factor maps based on methodology and input data: Landslide location, Slope steepness, Land
use/ land cover, Geology, Density of drainages and Rainfall. Figure 2 describes the landslide
zonation map of India.

Figure 2: Landslide zonation map of India (Source: http://www.bmtpc.org)

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There is a wide range of applications of the hazard zonation maps which include preparation of
development plans for dams, roads, cities etc., master plan and land use plans, decision making
in rescue and relief operations.

6.3 Management of FLOODS using geospatial technologies (remote sensing and

geographical information system)
Floods are considered to be most devastating hazard among all natural hazards worldwide,
causing more deaths and property damage than any other. It may be defined as any relatively
high water flow that overflows the banks in any portion of a river or stream beyond it capacity to
hold. Different types of flooding (e.g. river floods, flash floods, dam-break floods or coastal
floods) have different characteristics with respect to the time of occurrence, the magnitude,
frequency, duration, flow velocity and the areal extension. Many factors play a role in the
occurrence of flooding, such as the intensity and duration of rainfall, snowmelt, deforestation,
land use practices, sedimentation in riverbeds, and natural or man-made obstructions.

Figure 3: Flood Hazard Zonation map of India (Source: www.mapsofIndia.com)

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In flood evaluation procedure, there are certain parameters that need to be taken into
consideration which include depth of flood water, the rate of rise and decline, the duration, the
flow velocity and the frequency of occurrence. During the stages of preparedness/warning and
response/monitoring the earth observation satellites are widely used. These earth observation
satellites provide data for mapping geomorphologic elements, historical events and sequential
inundation phases, including depth, duration, and direction of current during prevention stage of
disaster. The monitoring of flood is carried out by using RS satellite imagery from global scale to
storm scale. In most of the disaster management phases, the satellite data has been effectively
and operationally used (CEOS, 1999). It is frequently used in the storm scale to monitor the
movement, intensity and precipitation spread to determine how much, when, and where the
heavy precipitation is going to shift during the next zero to three hours (called NOWCASTING)
through hydrodynamic models. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been regularly observing
the earth’s surface, even in a bad weather situation or thick cloud cover. The mapping and
monitoring of flood can also be done by using NOAA AHVRR, in near real time. From GOES
and POES satellites, the multi-channel and multi sensor data are used for meteorological
evaluation, interpretation, validation, and assimilation into numerical prediction models to assess
hydro-geological risks (Barrett, 1996). For flood forecasting and subsequent warning, the
Quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) and forecasts (QPF) use satellite data as informative
source. For the mapping of flood inundated areas, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from ERS
and RADARSAT have been verified as very effective even in bad weather conditions. In India
since 1993, ERS-SAR has been used effectively in flood monitoring besides Radarsat since
1998. For the management of floods, the RS should always be associated with other data in a
GIS, especially the integration of a large number of hydrological and hydraulic factors on the
local scale. The GIS technique can contribute in generation of topographic information using
digital elevation model (DEM), obtained from SPOT, aerial photography, geodetic surveys,
LiDAR (Light detection And Ranging) or SAR. All these data incorporated in 2D or 3D finite
element models, have been very useful in flood prediction in floodplains and river channels

7. Conclusions
Remote sensing can be potentially employed to address various aspects of disaster management
cycle. Rather focusing only on emergency response, it is essential to consider all facets of

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disaster management. Remotely sensed data extend their support to disaster management
organizations via providing relevant and accurate information in a temporally, spectrally and
spatially significant context. In addition to it, one should tailor the technologies owing to remote
sensing to fulfill the desired requirements of the disaster organization. It is necessary to examine
and evaluate the so far accomplished work in relevant fields of various natural and manmade
disasters.

8. References
• Banger S. K.: Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System for Natural Disaster
Management: GISdevelopment.net.
• Materials Research Station and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, supported by
National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
• Krishnamoorthi, N. (2016). Role of Remote Sensing and GIS in Natural Disaster
Management Cycle. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) , 144-154.

• Papiya Bala, S. T. (2017). GIS and Remote Sensing In Disaster Management. Imperial
Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 732-737.

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