Earlier this year Hurricane Dorian flattened the Bahamas. Winds of 295km/h reduced buildings to matchsticks and over 70,000 people were left homeless. Amidst such devastation where on earth do you decide to start the clean-up process? A new project using before-and-after satellite images is enabling ordinary citizens from all over the world to help.
Trialled for the first time with Hurricane Dorian, thousands of volunteers from the Planetary Response Network scoured satellite images taken before and after the hurricane had passed through. In particular the volunteers looked for clear areas that might be suitable for landing a helicopter, and underwater hazards that might endanger rescue teams arriving by boat. “If we asked a computer to look at these pictures, it would not know the difference between important changes for the rescue efforts and changes due to ordinary causes like clouds or lighting. But that difference is obvious to people, so in order to assess the entire region quickly we needed the public’s help,” explains project leader Brooke Simmons from Lancaster University.
Simmons and her colleagues from the Zooniverse Team then used the information to help rescue workers plan safe routes and no-go areas, and decide how to prioritise the aid and clean-up operation.
