NASA satellites are collaborating in response to the seismic disaster in Turkey and Syria. The US space agency confirmed that Turkish emergency authorities received FINDER units on Tuesday, a technology that can detect people trapped under rubble.
Two strong earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 struck southern Turkey and western Syria on February 6. Since then, NASA has shared aerial views of the affected regions, as well as data from space to help search and rescue teams on the ground.
“Our hearts go out to those affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA is our eyes in the sky, and our expert teams are hard at work bringing valuable information from our Earth-observing fleet to first responders on the ground.”
One of the main capabilities of the US space agency is to visualize the Earth in all its weather conditions, day or night. With SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), NASA can measure how the ground moves and how the landscape changes after catastrophic events like an earthquake.
In addition to assessing damage, NASA scientists use space and ground-based observations to improve the agency’s ability to understand these types of natural disasters.
The official death toll in Turkey is already over 35,000, but it is still being updated. Some 13,000 people remain hospitalized and authorities are still trying to find survivors.
Source: TSF
