A GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot Project for Disasters in Chile

On May 22, 1960, a 9.5-magnitude earthquake, the largest ever recorded, occurred off the coast of Chile. On September 16, 2015 Chile was again struck by a 8.3-moment magnitude earthquake. In 2013, 22 million people worldwide were displaced due to natural disaster events (IDMC, 2014). These disasters have a tremendous impact on the lives of the poorest of the poor, who often are not prepared to cope with natural hazards. For them, a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, or a drought, may involve the deepening of their already precarious situation. Figure 1 (UN SPIDER, 2013), documents how loss of life and property due to disasters is increasing glob- ally. Figure 2 (German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System or GITEWS, 2015) shows how a framework of Earth observations and information derived from both space and in-situ networks can support national and local rst responders and provide effective tools to rapidly map injuries, damages and identify possible safe areas.