On 27 February a 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Chile followed by 122 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake hit 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles. Afterwards a tsunami hit the coastal town of Constitucion (Maule region) imposing additional damages and killing about 350 people. The overall death toll could reach 800 while about 2 million people are affected in some way.

The G-MOSAIC Rapid Geospatial Reporting Service (RGR )  has been triggered by the UN Department for Field Support soon after the earthquake. On Sunday  February 27th in the morning, both the Italian Ministry of Defence (General Staff) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Crisis Unit) expressed their interest in being informed about any possible evolution in the ground damage assessment, as a possible involvement in the rescue activities could be needed in case Italian citizens were affected or a request for international intervention was  made by the Chilean authorities.

The data and products delivered or being developed include:

Damage assessment

Critical infrastructure analysis (e.g. water treatment plant, airport, harbour)

Reference

Vector reference analysis

Vector reference database

A sample of these products is presented below. All products developed as well as GIS datasets (Geographic Information System) can be downloaded on the g-mosaic geoportal.

Index of G-MOSAIC products in Google Earth

This kml file enables to display the list of G-MOSAIC products in the popular Google Earth viewing tool, and to open the product files directly through hyperlinks.Download the G-MOSAIC index for Google Earth here.

This information is derived from Radar information (Cosmo Skymed satellite), middle resolution optical data (RapidEye satellite). Only very obvious damage can be detected so far. This damage assessment is to be confirmed by Very High Resolution optical information.

Briefing Notes

The European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), the partner of the G-MOSAIC consortium in charge of coordinating Rapid Mapping Activities, has produced briefing notes on various critical assets in Chile that are necessary to manage the aftermath of the disaster. Click on the reports below to download them:

Pre and post event critical infrastructure analysis

The images below illustrate the critical assets analysis. The ENAP refinery of Concepcion, in the Biobio region, has endured structural damages as shown by images acquired prior and after the earthquake by the Worldview-2 satellite, launched in October 2009.

The images below illustrate the critical infrastructure analysis of the Biobio water treatment plant. Images were acquired by the Worldview-2 satellite prior and after the earthquake.