The increasing number and intensity of natural disasters in the past few years have had severe consequences in terms of human lives that were impacted, but also in terms of structural damage and economic losses. In years to come, extreme events will no longer be exceptions; therefore, it is essential for sovereign territories in the Caribbean region to strengthen both their preparedness and response capacities to efficiently cope with future disaster events.

Geospatial information technology including satellite imagery analysis and data visualization play a vital role in understanding the geographic extent and severity of catastrophic events. Nevertheless, the ability of national and regional authorities as well as disaster management experts to seamlessly collect, integrate, analyze and distribute geospatial information in a comprehensible format to support evidence-based decision making remains a challenge that needs to be addressed with ad-hoc training and capacity development programmes.

To meet these challenges, UNOSAT is offering an introductory course in the use of Geo-Spatial Information Technology applications to support operational planning and decision making during emergency response. The course is designed to accommodate selected participants from line ministries and national/regional authorities with little or no previous GIS experience.