Tropical storm Ketsana (also known as Ondoy) swept across the Philippines on 26 September. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines has declared a state of calamity in several regions and requested international humanitarian assistance to deal with the effects from Ketsana. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) has recorded 240 deaths and over 1.5 million people affected by the storm. UNITAR’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) was requested by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) to activate the Humanitarian Rapid Mapping service in support to relief efforts for the event. This also included triggering the International Charter Space and Major Disasters (Space Charter). UNOSAT is currently producing maps and analyses. The first products are already online.

Satellite image derived flood map showing situation in Philippines - flooded areas in red.

As a Charter User Intermediary, UNITAR/UNOSAT acts as a gateway for the UN to the Space Charter and ensures the requirements for geo-spatial information from humanitarian users all over the world are met. In the same capacity, UNOSAT also triggers the Space Charter in support of UN sister agencies. For this event, UNOSAT also collaborates with Sertit in the context of the SAFER project. 
 
Related links: 
Space Charter: www.disasterscharter.org
UNITAR/UNOSAT: www.unitar.org/unosat
Satellite maps for this event: http://www.unosat.org/asp/prod_free.asp?id=46