This is the ZKI web archive for 2007. All the information that appeared on the "ZKI news" page in 2007 was transferred to this archive where it remains accessible.

Oil spill in Antarctica from sunken ship MV Explorer

December 20, 2007
On November 23, the MV Explorer, an adventure travel ship, hit an iceberg whilst passing through pack ice in the Bransfield Strait about 50 nautical miles south of King George Island, Antarctica. more ...

ZKI produces maps of affected regions after tropical cyclone 'Sidr' in Bangladesh

November 21, 2007
During the night from Nov 15 and 16, 2007, tropical cyclone 'Sidr' swept over the the southwestern part of Bangladesh, leaving behind a trail of destruction. With wind speeds of up to 240 km/hr at the coast and up to 160 km/hr at the capital Dhaka, Sidr forced three million people to flee from their homes in 15 coastal districts of Bangladesh. more ...

Oil spill at the Kerch Strait between Ukraine and Russia

November 21, 2007
A storm on Sunday, 11 November, broke a small Russian oil tanker, the Volgoneft-139, in half spilling at least 1,300 tonnes of fuel oil in the Kerch strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The same storm sank at least four freighters, three carrying sulphur and one with a cargo of scrap metal. On the shore near port Kavkaz, the environmental consequences of the heavy oil spill are disastrous. more ...

ZKI maps flooding in Mexico with high-resolution radar satellite TerraSAR-X

November 7, 2007
In early November, heavy rainfalls lasting for a whole week led to devastating floods in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, displacing about one million people and appoximately half of Tabasco's overall population. About 80% of the state of Tabasco's surface (overall area: 25,000 km²) has been temporarily flooded. The region around the city of Villahermosa with its population of approx. 600.000 was hit most by the floods. more ...

German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) is on a good track

November 6, 2007
Within the frame of today?s International Steering Committee Meeting of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Indonesian State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) the DLR prototype of the newly developed Decision Support System (DSS) was presented. The meeting of this committee took place on November 6 and 7, 2007 at DLR´s German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) in Oberpfaffenhofen. more ...

First UN-SPIDER Office providing space information for disaster management inaugurated in Bonn

29. Oktober 2007
A new United Nations Office has opened in Bonn, Germany. The new office is integral part of the UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) established by the UN General Assembly in New York last December. more ...

DFD co-coordinates the 2nd European Emergency Exercise GNEX?07

October 15, 2007
The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) of DLR is managing the second European wide exercise of the Network of Excellence GMOSS on the use of satellite imagery for supporting civil security crisis response capacities. The exercise involves more than 15 GMOSS contractors, associated partners and end-users and will last from October 15th to 18th. First results will be presented to the European Commission on October 19th. more ...

Forest fires in Southern Europe, August 2007

August 27, 2007
Southeastern Europe is currently affected by the worst wildfires for decades. Conditioned by extrem heat since middle of August 2007, large natural or man-made fires started. Since the end of August, Greece is the most affected country. The fires of the last days killed at least 60 people so far. It is expected that the death toll rises, since many villages are still trapped by the fires. At the moment, the Peleponnes peninsula is affected most. more ...

Fires on the Canary Islands, August 2007

August 9, 2007
The islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria of the Canary Islands (Spain) were affected by some of the worst forest fires in the history of Spain. The fires forced more than 10.000 people to leave temporarily their homes, some of which were destroyed by the fires. The Spanish Government and the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of the European Commission triggered the International Charter ?Space and Major Disasters? to estimate the damaged area based on satellite data. more ...

Flood in the United Kingdom, July 2007

July 26, 2007
Following the severe flooding that had affected the central and northern parts of England in the end of June and the beginning of July, the South-west of England and Wales have been hit by severe weather again, with flooding affecting thousands of homes and leaving many without water and electricity. The areas worst affected include the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, Hereford and Worcestershire. more ...

Flood in England and Wales, England July 2007

July 6, 2007
Heavy rainstorms caused by an extraordinary weather situation led to major floodings in parts of the UK. During June 2007 a large low-pressure area coming from the Atlantic Ocean was trapped over Wales and England. The highest precipitation rates measured over the last decade were recorded at a number of meteorological stations in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Midlands. Recently, those areas are mainly affected by floods which led to breakdowns in power supply and the evacuation of residents such as in the city of Sheffield. The threat of reservoir dam breaks further exacerbated relief activities of the local authorities. more ...

DLR maps for G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, June 6 to 8, 2007

June 11, 2007
From June 6 to 8, the G8 leaders met for their annual summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. The area of Heiligendamm was spaciously protected for security reasons and the inner security zone was confined by a fence. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations were involved in the logistical organisation and implementation of safety and security for both the official summit and the protest activities. more ...

Earthquake in West Sumatra, Indonesia 2007

March 6, 2007
Two earthquakes occurred on March 6, 2007 at 10:49 am and 12:49 am local time, magnitude 6.2 and 6.3 (GEOFON) respectively in West Sumatra province / Indonesia, which led to heavy destructions. The epicentre was located 16 km southwest of Batusangkar District and 55 km northeast of the regional capital Padang. Up to now 73 dead people and approx. 4000 heavily damaged buildings are reported by the regional disaster management authority (March 9, 2007). more ...

Floods in Mozambique: ZKI supports UN World Food Programme

February 12, 2007
Since end of January, heavy seasonal rains in south-eastern Africa are causing severe flooding, especially along the Zambezi River (Mozambique). The National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC) declared Red Alert on February 4th for the whole Zambezi River basin, expecting this situation to last until end of February. more ...