Humanitarian ScienceThe team had to take special care when preparing their report so that it was intelligible to laymen who could use it as a practical guide in humanitarian missions on the ground. The report included a map that colored Nepal on a gradient from blue to red—red denoting high risk, and blue low risk.
“We had to make the product readable to people who weren’t specialists in my field, so it’s obvious when you look at it,” Gallen said.
The urgent nature of the matter and the dearth of information about the capacity of rescue efforts on the ground means that Gallen and others didn’t decide on a certain cut-off point for landslide risk to justify evacuation, settling for mapping the risks on a continuum.
The mapping of all the landslide hotspots in Nepal is part of an ongoing process—satellites are still gathering fresh data that will yield updated, more accurate models. The process itself isn’t seamless either; many areas affected by the earthquake are covered by cloud, which interferes with the satellites.
The landscape will also likely be disrupted by aftershocks—a 5.1-magnitude quake transpired in the early morning of May 2, a week after the initial quake.
Though simple in concept, gathering satellite imagery on a specific target requires complex international coordination, given that there are literally thousands of satellites in orbit operated by different countries.
Clark is scheduled to meet with NASA to discuss the diversion paths for the satellites, as well as potential collaborators.