this TV Exchange documents how imagery from the french Spot-5 earth observation satellite was used in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, to establish damge assessments and subsequently direct humanitarian aid to those places in Thailand where it was most urgently needed.
Tsunami 26 december 2004
Tsunami
Earth observation
Natural Dissasters
Satellites

TSUNAMI observations with Spot-5 TC
10.00.40 Tsunami: a word which has resonated around the globe since December 26th. More than 300,000 victims in South Asia, with thousands more left homeless The United Nations has called it the biggest natural disaster of modern times. Satellite technology allowed the international relief operation to survey the disaster and evaluate the damage by a process of comparison. On the screen on the left the region of Aceh in Indonesia before December 26th, on the right in the after the tsunami had struck. Spot Image's Eric Duclos-Gendreu.
ITV Eric With the Spot 5 satellite we were able to reconstruct the relief of the area. We used what we call an altimetric data base. By superimposing the satellite image on to this data we could create a 3D database. This is one of the practical results of the International Space Charter and Natural Disasters convention which regrouped several national space agencies, the European Space Agency and the United Nations. The observation satellite