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Natural and man-induced disasters

Earth observation, including the use of satellite and aerial imagery aree important tools to study the history, type and extent of natural and man-induced disasters occurring at the earth surface.

The first known aerial photograph was taken in 1858 by French photographer and balloonist, known as "Nadar". See also Professional Aerial Photographers Association(PAPA)

Nowadays a huge amount of satellite data is made available for free. For instance by the European Space Agency  or Digital Globe for Disaster response actions.

The Global Risk Data Platform of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) hosts a web portal with world wide information on the most recent and past disasters.

Example: Quickbird satellite images with a high resolution of Banda Aceh city, Indonesia before and after the tsunami of December 2004.