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The Regional Workshop on the Use of Space Technology Applications for Disaster Management in Southeast Asia, held recently in Singapore on 27-30 January 2004, brought representatives from space agencies, space information service providers and civil defense agencies/disaster management authorities from 15 members (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) as well as representatives from ESA, ESCAP, OOSA, UNOPS and PDC, to exchange information on national, regional and international disaster-related initiatives and to deliberate on profiles of pilot project on disaster management in Southeast Asia using space technology.
The participating members agreed to address under future pilot projects floods and related disasters and capacity building, focusing on disaster preparedness, including risk mapping and vulnerability assessment, information sharing, and capacity building towards using satellite communication in disaster situation, as well as creating better awareness of Governments and public and reaching end-beneficiaries.
The workshop was jointly organized by ESCAP and the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with OOSA, CNES and CRISP. The workshop was financially supported by ESA, with complementing contribution from France, and hosted by CRISP of the National University of Singapore.

The Regional Workshop on Drought Monitoring and Assessment Using Space Technology, held in Hyderabad, India, on 3-7 May 2004, brought representatives from space agencies, space information service providers and end-user agencies from the agricultural and drought monitoring sectors from 10 member countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam) as well as from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, to exchange information on current applications of space technology for agricultural drought monitoring and assessment at the national and global levels.
The participating countries also discussed possible regional cooperative mechanisms and networking to enhance the exchange of data, information products and services and the extension of agricultural drought monitoring operations that could be established under the framework of cooperation of the Regional Space Applications Programme (RESAP).
The workshop was jointly organized by ESCAP and the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) of the Department of Space of the Government of India, which hosted the workhsop. The financial support was from the Government of France, with complementing contribution from India.

The International Training Course on GIS and Remote Sensing for Disaster Risk Assessment, organized by GIS Applications Center of AIT with financial support from ESCAP and JAXA, took place in Bankok, Thailand from 13-24 September 2004.
The objective of this course was to provide basic concepts and methodologies for disaster risk assessment, and use of Remote Sensing and GIS technologies in for its management.
At the end of the training course, the participants are expected to: [a] Extract relevant information from Remote Sensing data and integrate with other data in GIS environment for analysis and assessment of natural disaster risk; [b] Carry out landuse planning while taking natural disaster risk into account.
The course was attended by more than 20 participants from developing and least developed countries of the region and they received a certificate of attendance.

Increasing numbers of Earth observation information service providers are working to provide support to disaster management activities, and experimental, pilot and operational systems have demonstrated their importance worldwide. Many countries with Earth observation missions are committed to support disaster management applications. However, to make such services operational, there is still a lack of awareness from many end-users of the diversity of information products and services, and the technical capability to deal with them. Furthermore, institutional and policy barriers prevent many disaster management authorities to directly benefit from available information and services.
In order to address such issues of common concerns of many countries in the region, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), under its Regional Space Applications Programme (RESAP), is working to strengthen national capacities for policy-making in disaster management through integration of space information products and services, in particular focusing on floods and drought.
This Meeting of Experts was organized as its inception to gather space information service providers and users to jointly discuss the above-mentioned major issues.
The Meeting was jointly organized by UNESCAP and the National Remote Sensing Centre of China of the Ministry of Science and Technology (http://www.nrscc.gov.cn/english/about.asp), which also hosted the meeting.
The Meeting of Experts was organized in conjunction with the CEOS 18 th Plenary and the International Workshop on Earth Observation Technology and Application, 16 to 17 November 2004, Beijing (http://www.nrscc.gov.cn/english/ceos.asp), organized by the NRSCC as the Chair Agency of CEOS for 2004.

Satellite based telemedicine helps patients in distant and remote areas to avail timely consultations from specialist doctors without going through the ordeal of traveling long distances. In the context of distant and rural areas, the telemedicine-based medical care is highly cost effective.
The Workshop was organized to support the implementation of the second phase of Regional Space Application Programme for Sustainable Development (RESAP). Its main objectives are to raise awareness on: development of telemedicine and related technologies; telemedicine applications, including disaster situations. The Workshop also aimed to explore on possible pilot satellite enabled telemedicine applications among the participating countries. Towards which ISRO and some telemedicine practicing hospitals in India shown interest to extend their technical and human resources for this cooperative activity.
This workshop was a part of ongoing efforts to promote satellite communication applications in the area of healthcare for rural and less-developed areas. The recent tsunami disaster is also indicative of the importance of telemedicine in supporting disaster relief activities, as Indian Government demonstrated recently.
The Regional Telemedicine Workshop was jointly organized by UNESCAP and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which also hosted the meeting and attended participants from Bangladesh, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Mayanmar.

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