Help From Above: Satellite Beams Assistance to Disaster Survivors

When a major earthquake strikes in seismically active Central America, where building and infrastructure is often less able to withstand the shock, the damage can be devastating.

Through a fusion of cutting-edge technology and multi-national cooperation, emergency response is aided at the speed of light with the benefit of satellite imagery that permits region-wide assessment of those areas damaged most severely.

The life-saving satellite is named SERVIR — the Spanish verb "to help" — and arose through partnership between NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development and several Central American national governmental agencies.

Since 2004, SERVIR has aided rebuilding in the wake of 24 disasters — earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides and floods — in several Central American countries.

Most recently, following a May 2009 earthquake that leveled buildings and took seven lives in Honduras, SERVIR was able to provide emergency response teams with a clear picture of the destruction patterns, allowing them to efficiently and rapidly deploy limited resources.

SERVIR Senior Scientist Emil Cherrington reflected on the most recent bit of high-tech help from above:

"The Honduras earthquake was a perfect example of SERVIR at its best. It was like a chain reaction. People from agencies and organizations in several countries worked together after the earthquake to pinpoint precise locations where support was needed."

As awful and life altering (and, worse, potentially life ending) as a major natural disaster can be, survivors of such events in this disaster-prone part of the world truly have a friend in high places.