(Proceedings,World Congress on Natural Disaster Mitigation, February 2004, New Delhi,Vol. 1, pp. 237245).
Indian sub-continent is one among the world's most disaster prone areas. Floods and drought are the two hydrological extremities causing huge losses to the lives and property in India. About 40 M ha or nearly 1/8th of the national geographical area is flood prone and about two-thirds of the country receives rainfall less than 1000 mm. Space technology has proven that it is one of the best means for assessing the situation and mapping the disaster affected areas quickly, accurately and repetitively covering wide areas, apart from its cost effectiveness. This paper discusses the methodology for generation of space based information on floods and agricultural drought. In addition, the results of the analysis of satellite data covering major flood events and agricultural drought situation of 2003 were also discussed.
Sub-continent, Floods, Drought, Hydrological extremities, Space technology, Disaster affected, Satellite data
