The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) participated in two regional meetings organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The meetings discussed the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

Following a tsunami that hit coastal areas around the Sunda strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java on 22 December, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has requested the activation of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters on behalf of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) of Indonesia. LAPAN is a UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office (RSO).

A new tool developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) aims to allow users to “systematically inspect” any location on Earth – from glaciers to rainforests - with satellite data. Collect Earth Online (CEO), announced on 12 December 2018, is also expected to be utilized in disaster management.

The United Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), through its UN-SPIDER programme, and the Disaster Management Centre of the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC DMC) conducted a joint regional workshop and training on the “Utilization of Space-based and Geospatial Information for Achieving the Targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction” from 4 to 8 December in Ahmedabad, India.

The Colombian National Unit for Disaster and Disk management (UNGRD) has recently published the “Colombian Risk Atlas: Revealing latent disasters”. The publication strengthens the understanding of the disaster risks at the national and regional level, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.