International Charter

Space and Major Disasters

Contact Us |
English | Español | Français | 日本語 | 中文

Activating the Charter

The only bodies authorized to request the services of the Charter are the authorized users, who have been given the single confidential phone number. An authorized user is a civil protection, rescue, defense or security body from the country of a Charter member. Those eligible to become members of the Charter include space agencies and national or international space system operators. Further details are available in the Charter statement.

An Authorized User can call a single number to request the mobilization of the space and associated ground resources (RADARSAT, ERS, ENVISAT, SPOT, IRS, SAC-C, NOAA satellites, LANDSAT, ALOS, DMC satellites and others) of the member agencies to obtain data and information on a disaster occurrence.

A 24-hour on-duty operator receives the call, checks the identity of the requestor and verifies that the User Request form sent by the Authorized User is correctly filled up.

The operator passes the information to an Emergency On-Call Officer who analyzes the request and the scope of the disaster with the Authorized User, and prepares an archive and acquisition plan using available space resources.

Data acquisition and delivery takes place on an emergency basis, and a Project Manager, who is qualified in data ordering, handling and application, assists the user throughout the process.

Sequence of Events

The following illustration depicts the sequence of events that occur once the Charter is activated. Beginning with the authorized user (bottom left), follow the sequence with your mouse for a brief description of each step, and click on any of the steps for more in-depth information.

Authorized Users (AU)
	They are the bodies authorized to request the services of the Charter They are recognized to be the Charter Associated Bodies They receive the single (ODO) phone number They represent the civil protection, rescue, defense and security bodies of the country to which the Participating Agencies belong

Exceptionally, the Board may allow certain organizations with which the Charter Parties and Partner Agencies have an interest to cooperate, or 'Cooperating Bodies', to request the Charter data.

On-Duty Operator (ODO)
	Available 24h/day, 7 days/week Receives calls requesting space data images and information Identifies the caller as being an AU Obtains and confirms with the AU the information required Transmits the information to the ECO (AU coordinates) Contacts the ECO within an hour

Emergency On-Call Officer (ECO)
	Available 24h/day, 7 days/week Processes the information received from the ODO Verifies the validity of the disaster relief data request Identifies the most timely and appropriate satellite resource and prepares a draft plan Gets the Space Agency user's approval AAP (Archives / Acquisition plan) Tasks the appropriate Space Agency Submits request for new images or archives Gathers all relevant information in the dossier Transfers dossier to the Project Manager Informs Space Agencies of the status of their space resources
Members (Space Agencies)
	Plan acquisitions according to request submitted by ECO Resolve any conflicts and suggest alternate acquisitions if necessary Program their respective space resources (satellites) to acquire therequested data over the area affected by the disaster Not all of the space resources can provide relevant data for all types of disasters. Hence, not all of the space resources are necessarily tasked for each Charterrequest
Value Added Reseller
	Once the data is acquired, it is processed into images VA further processes and interprets the data acquired over the area affected by the disaster and delivers the images to the End User
Project Manager (PM)
	Identified by Executive Secretariat when Charter is activated Available during normal working hours Ensures data is sent to the end user Confirms accuracy of data sent to user Ability to interpret data Coordinates, when required, the delivery of value-added products and information Completes dossier with a report submitted to the International Charter Executive Secretariat
Mechanisms to activate the Charter
There are several mechanisms for a user organisation to submit a request to activate the Charter:
Direct activation
The only bodies authorised to request the services of the Charter for a disaster occurring in their country or territory are the Authorised Users. Authorised Users comprise a pre-defined list of 40+ user organisations, corresponding to 36* countries (the member states of the 10 members of the International Charter). 35% of activations from 2007-2009 were made via this mechanism.
Activation via an Authorised User on behalf of a user from a non-member country (‘sponsor Authorised User')
An Authorised User may request the Charter to assist a disaster management user from another country in response to a major emergency. For example, activation requests from users in Latin American countries are often submitted via the Argentinean Authorised User. 32% of activations from 2007-2009 were made via this mechanism.
Activation via the UN for UN users
The Charter has an agreement with UN OOSA (Vienna) and UNITAR/UNOSAT (Geneva) to provide support to UN agencies. UN OOSA and UNITAR/UNOSAT may submit requests on behalf of users from the United Nations. 33% of activations from 2007-2009 were made via this mechanism.
Activation for Asia Pacific users via Sentinel Asia's partner, the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre
Sentinel Asia is a regional collaboration for Earth observation based emergency response in 31 Asia Pacific countries.** Since 2009 the Charter has granted the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre the right to submit activation requests on behalf of Sentinel Asia users.
Further actions to improve Charter access with GEO
In response to a request from the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) to improve access to the Charter during emergencies, collaboration has started with primary focus on users from African countries that do not have a direct access to the Charter. In 2009, the Charter initiated a formal user consultation to address the improvement of Charter access in African countries.
Charter activations per mechanism type (2000-2009)

* Charter membership currently comprises of organisations that combine 36 countries with 42 Authorised Users: Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. ** Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen.

Emergency related enquiries New users without direct access to the Charter should address emergency related enquiries to: executivesecretariat@disasterscharter.org General information enquiries General enquiries concerning the Charter operations and provisions should be addressed to: webmaster@disasterscharter.org