Foreign news

Chinese scientists generate Turkish earthquake relief analysis for UN

Published

2 years ago

February 15, 2023

The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has activated its emergency mapping service in quake-hit areas in Türkiye to aid relief efforts.

A research team from central China’s Wuhan University was invited to map the lights in the areas at night using remote sensing data to help better analyze disaster situations in different areas and allocate relief resources.

Li Xi, a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing at Wuhan University, together with his team, provided remote sensing data of the quake-hit areas to UNOSAT.

The initial assessment results, disrupted by rain and snow, show that the lighting reduction ratio is over 90 percent, 50 percent and 70 percent in Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman, respectively.

The results indicate that the power and other infrastructure losses in the disaster-stricken areas are serious.

“In the past, it was generally believed that the closer the area was to the epicenter, the greater the loss. In fact, this did not take into account the different disaster resistance capabilities of different areas,” said Li.

The changes in the lights can directly reflect the scale of damage in different cities and can be used to assess disaster resistance capabilities. In the case of resource shortages, it can play an important role in the formulation of more targeted rescue strategies, Li added.

Generating data via satellites

Li’s team analyzed satellite data, which is updated every day, combining macro and micro observations. They used China’s high-resolution satellites to carry out the high-precision monitoring of lights in affected areas at night.

Earth science satellite SDGSAT-1, developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provided pre-disaster data for researchers to compare with the post-disaster conditions.

In addition, commercial space telescope Yangwang-1, developed by Origin Space Technology Co., Ltd., and micro-nano satellite QMX-1, developed by Wuhan University, have been employed.

Besides observing lights through high-resolution satellites at night, the team also took help from Suomi-NPP, a U.S. meteorological satellite, to obtain data with longer timeframe and broader range, and to analyze the light trends.

The team reported analysis results to UNOSAT, the World Food Program and other agencies. The results could be used to help formulate relief policies and monitor the progress of post-disaster reconstruction.

“The data may help policymakers analyze the disaster situations in different areas and allocate relief resources better,” Li said.

“We’ve been involved since the day after the earthquakes, and we will be tracking and observing the area for the coming months or even years.”

Team mission

Currently, Li’s team and UNOSAT are collaborating under the pilot initiative “Night-Time Light Remote Sensing for Sustainable Development Goals” from the Group on Earth Observations.

The initiative aims to quantify the progress of several indexes related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals using night-time light data.

Since 2012, Li’s team has been engaged in the research field of luminous remote sensing, assessing impact of humanitarian disasters with related data.

Their previous researches in Syria, Yemen and other places have proved that changes in nighttime lights can be used to assess humanitarian disasters efficiently, serving the United Nations Security Council and other agencies for multiple times.

(With input from Xinhua)

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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