The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Risk and Recovery Programme is funded by the European Commission to provide operational services based on satellite observations in the fields of emergency management and population safety.
Several operational services exist within the programme, including: emergency mapping, i.e. mapping in emergency situations that member states can activate in order to very quickly obtain (in hours or days) disaster maps of any kind (flood, earthquake, tsunami…) from selected research bodies or companies. Copernicus also provides risk and recovery mapping, i.e. the preparation of maps for hazard, impact and risk assessment for different types of disasters. This mapping produced with the help of satellite data is developed in a very short time (about one month) from the user’s request.
Between January 2015 and December 2018, CIMA Research Foundation qualified at the European level to provide specific maps in the field of risk and recovery mapping, with a particular focus on hydraulic and forest fire risk. The service has been active, not only on the territory of member states, but also in response to specific requests, for countries outside the European Union. Among the most relevant activations of the service, carried out for various types of risk, our researchers have produced maps in Mozambique (Maputo), Chile (Arica) and Peru (Tacna), in the Madeira Islands and in the Azores, and in areas affected by fires in Greece. In addition, CIMA Foundation has also dealt with the mapping of secondary hydraulic induced risk. For example, researchers have carried out, in some areas of Austria, maps for secondary flood risk as a result of dam collapses or landslides in watercourses as a consequence of earthquakes.
