Periodic Report Summary - SAFER (Services and Applications For Emergency Response)
Project Context and Objectives:
SAFER aims at implementing the preoperational version of the GMES Emergency Response Service.
SAFER will reinforce European capacity to respond to emergency situations: fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, humanitarian and complex crisis.
The main goal is the upgrade of the core service and the validation of its performance with 2 priorities:
First priority is the short term improvement of response when crisis occurs, with the rapid mapping capacity after disastrous events, including the relevant preparatory services (reference maps).
The main performance criterion is the response time. RTD work addresses technical, operational and organisational issues.
The second priority is the extension to core service components before and after the crisis. It targets the longer term service evolution, through the provision of thematic products, to be added in the portfolio of services. The main performance criterion is the added-value of products with risk-specific information. In SAFER, thematic products will cover mainly the meteorological and geophysical risks.
SAFER includes also some transverse RTD actions, with the objective to increase added-value of the overall service chain.
Users' involvement is a key driver and a specific task addresses the federation of the key users, both for interventions in Europe and outside Europe.
The consortium is built around a core team of European service providers, already involved in the former or ongoing projects, in the frame of FP6 or ESA programmes. A wide network of scientific partners and service providers extend the European dimension, in particular in the new member states.
Project Results:
The second year of the SAFER project has confirmed the promising results of year 1. The service is now increasingly visible for the targeted communities and even beyond.
The effective operational activities of the project, the consolidated cooperation with complementary initiatives and communities, and professional communication supports, were the main vectors of this visibility, as illustrated by the following key achievements in 2010.
- 50 Emergency activations completed since the beginning of year 2010 (73 in total) with improved responsiveness.
- More than 50 Emergency support activations (reference maps and thematic products supporting the emergency phase as well as the preparedness / prevention and recovery phases).
- Formal cooperation guidelines agreed with the International Charter 'Space and major disasters' and G-Mosaic.
- Completion of the User Starter Package.
- Service Evolution process implemented and improved visibility of thematic and R&D activities.
- Continued involvement of the users' community in the validation process and enlargement of the users' community.
- Release of the GMES ERS Website
For the third and last year of the project, the consortium will obviously refine and consolidate the now running operational services, involve the users and analyse their feedbacks. Meanwhile, the Safer coordination team will mainly focus on the achievement of a suitable Gateway and the refining of the service evolution process that should lead to the integration of new thematic services for the sake of an improvement of the operational model.
Potential Impact:
The two first years of the project leads to promising results for the benefit of the GMES Emergency Response Service, whose goal, beyond consolidating an operational service, is to provide a better quality of life and increased safety to European citizens and vulnerable population worldwide.
Project website: http://www.emergencyresponse.eu
SAFER aims at implementing the preoperational version of the GMES Emergency Response Service.
SAFER will reinforce European capacity to respond to emergency situations: fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, humanitarian and complex crisis.
The main goal is the upgrade of the core service and the validation of its performance with 2 priorities:
First priority is the short term improvement of response when crisis occurs, with the rapid mapping capacity after disastrous events, including the relevant preparatory services (reference maps).
The main performance criterion is the response time. RTD work addresses technical, operational and organisational issues.
The second priority is the extension to core service components before and after the crisis. It targets the longer term service evolution, through the provision of thematic products, to be added in the portfolio of services. The main performance criterion is the added-value of products with risk-specific information. In SAFER, thematic products will cover mainly the meteorological and geophysical risks.
SAFER includes also some transverse RTD actions, with the objective to increase added-value of the overall service chain.
Users' involvement is a key driver and a specific task addresses the federation of the key users, both for interventions in Europe and outside Europe.
The consortium is built around a core team of European service providers, already involved in the former or ongoing projects, in the frame of FP6 or ESA programmes. A wide network of scientific partners and service providers extend the European dimension, in particular in the new member states.
Project Results:
The second year of the SAFER project has confirmed the promising results of year 1. The service is now increasingly visible for the targeted communities and even beyond.
The effective operational activities of the project, the consolidated cooperation with complementary initiatives and communities, and professional communication supports, were the main vectors of this visibility, as illustrated by the following key achievements in 2010.
- 50 Emergency activations completed since the beginning of year 2010 (73 in total) with improved responsiveness.
- More than 50 Emergency support activations (reference maps and thematic products supporting the emergency phase as well as the preparedness / prevention and recovery phases).
- Formal cooperation guidelines agreed with the International Charter 'Space and major disasters' and G-Mosaic.
- Completion of the User Starter Package.
- Service Evolution process implemented and improved visibility of thematic and R&D activities.
- Continued involvement of the users' community in the validation process and enlargement of the users' community.
- Release of the GMES ERS Website
For the third and last year of the project, the consortium will obviously refine and consolidate the now running operational services, involve the users and analyse their feedbacks. Meanwhile, the Safer coordination team will mainly focus on the achievement of a suitable Gateway and the refining of the service evolution process that should lead to the integration of new thematic services for the sake of an improvement of the operational model.
Potential Impact:
The two first years of the project leads to promising results for the benefit of the GMES Emergency Response Service, whose goal, beyond consolidating an operational service, is to provide a better quality of life and increased safety to European citizens and vulnerable population worldwide.
Project website: http://www.emergencyresponse.eu