The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is assisting U.S. government agencies in their effort to assess the extent and scope of damage caused by the December 26th tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
NGA is providing imagery products of the affected areas on a daily basis to: the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA); the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM), in whose region the tsunami occurred; and to other U.S. government agencies supporting humanitarian relief activities.
NGA continues to use its commercial satellite imagery contracts to fulfill customer requests for information. The products show the scope of the damage caused by the earthquake and resulting tsunami. OFDA and USPACOM are using the products to determine the priorities for emergency relief efforts and where life supporting supplies and personnel need to be deployed.
NGA is also assessing impacts to infrastructure, which includes damage to roads, bridges, ports, and airfields and how that damage affects access in and out of the damaged areas. This assessment will assist the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and others providing assistance in the region.
NGA is a Department of Defense combat support agency and a member of the National Intelligence Community whose mission is to provide timely, relevant and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of our national security. Geospatial intelligence is the exploitation and analysis of imagery and geospatial information to describe, assess and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., NGA has major facilities in the Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and St. Louis, Mo., areas with NGA support teams worldwide.
