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Humanitarian action has rapidly adopted Earth observation (EO) and geospatial technologies shaping them according to their needs. Protracted crises and large-scale population displacements require up-to-date information in many facets of humanitarian action support, from mission planning, resource deployment and monitoring, to nutrition and vaccination campaigns, camp plotting, damage assessment, etc. Even though nearly all assets of remote sensing apply in such demanding scenarios, it remains a challenge to fully implement and sustain a trustful and reliable information service. This paper discusses achievements and open issues in the use and uptake of EO technology, from a technical and organisational point of view, motivated by an information service for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its extension to other NGOs information needs in the humanitarian sector. With a focus on EO-based population estimation based on (semi-)automated dwelling counting from very high-resolution optical satellite imagery as well as the exploitation of data integration (including radar sensors), the paper also covers potential service elements with respect to environmental and ground- or surface water monitoring. It investigates workflow elements in relation to information extraction and delivery by illustrating a broad range of application scenarios, and discusses first operational solutions of a customized service portfolio. (VLID)4594001

(VLID)2826202

Supplying the population of a refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camp with sufficient drinking water is a key concern of humanitarian organisations. This requires information on the geological and hydrogeological situation at the camp site, which is often missing or not available within a reasonable timeframe. Depending on outcrop situation and geological complexity, remote sensing can contribute to a rapid hydrogeological assessment, and greatly reduce the required fieldwork. In the context of the project EO4HumEn (Earth Observation based services to support humanitarian operations: monitoring population and natural resources in refugee/IDP camps, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG, ASAP 9, Nr. 840081), a team of hydrogeologists and GIS experts supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Austria developed a workflow to extract hydrogeological information from easily accessible remote sensing data in a series of short-term desk studies. This paper provides a condensed, structured protocol on how to produce hydrogeological reconnaissance maps for humanitarian purposes using remote sensing data and GIS. In simple geological settings, these maps can be sufficient to plan and conduct drillings. In more complex situations, fieldwork remains indispensable, but can be guided towards the most suitable locations.

Natural disasters, changing environmental conditions, and violent regional conflicts are main drivers for population displacement. Worldwide, more than 50 million people are displaced. One tragic example of huge displacement due to a conflict situation is the Republic of South Sudan, where 1.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since December 2013. Most of them found refuge in numerous spontaneous settlements, either camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) within the country, or refugee camps in neighbouring countries. In such crisis situations, humanitarian organisations often do not have access to the areas and only have vague information on the location and amount of affected population. Using very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, rumours about displaced people can be generally verified or falsified, while for areas where displaced people gather, information on amount and spatial distribution of dwellings can be extracted for population estimates. Such information assists in planning services like health care or vaccination campaigns and planning of needed infrastructure like boreholes, latrines or hospitals. Camps in the setup and construction phase are often highly dynamic and require regular monitoring. Beyond this emergency phase, specific information is also requested by organisations involved in camp management in all other phases of humanitarian crisis response, i.e. in the care and maintenance phase, as well as the repatriation phase.

Geospatial information obtained from satellite data can contribute in various ways in assessing and dealing with prevalence of diseases. In this study, patterns of Buruli Ulcer (BU) in Central Cameroon were analysed using satellite imagery and GIS techniques in order to provide a better understanding of spatial characteristics and possible transmission mechanism of BU. First, geospatial mapping of BU case data was performed to assess spatial patterns. Second, a qualitative assessment was conducted based on environmental factors and exposure variables to address the (relative) infection risk for BU in the study area.