UNOOSA sets up emergency response office in Israel

Paris, 12 October 2020. – The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) sets up an office for disaster management and emergency response in Israel, the agency in Vienna said.

UNOOSA signed an agreement with the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to create a Regional Support Office of UNOOSA’s program United Nations Platform for Space-Based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER).

UN-SPIDER offices are regional or national centres of expertise that collaborate with UN-SPIDER on technical advisory support, capacity building and outreach to leverage space for disaster risk reduction in their region or country. The network allows UN-SPIDER to take advantage of the significant experience and capabilities offered by Member States to promote the use of space tools for disaster risk reduction all over the world.

UNOOSA and the university will cooperate in areas including emergency response management, capacity-building on space-based technologies for disaster management and the dissemination of methods and results from Earth observation.