Rapid Financial Impact Assessment After Floods Using Satellite Data: A Focus on South and Southeast Asia

Global flood losses are expected to continue increasing and be highly concentrated in developing countries, especially in Asian megacities. Developing economies face significant challenges in responding to such disasters. The limited ability of the government to rapidly allocate funds for effective response immediately after flood disasters is a potential bottleneck of high consequence. In this report, we pilot one set of science informed strategies for overcoming such bottlenecks. The initial focus is on countries in Southeast Asia that are exposed to riverine floods, typhoons and tropical storms with significant consequences to the nation’s economy and population. We sketch out and illustrate a methodology for risk and loss assessment in the context of planning a portfolio of financial instruments for rapid response at a national scale.

Recognizing the need for rapid response to such disasters, a variety of international organizations, including the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, the International Red Cross, and the World Food Program, have stimulated the development and testing of a variety of measures to make funds available, and also to invest in networks that facilitate the rapid identification of response and recovery needs. These include the deployment of sensor networks for emergency response, remote sensing capabilities to assess the evolution of the disaster, early warning systems, and the ability to rapidly mobilize water, food, transportation, evacuation, and financial resources. A variety of mechanisms, especially parametric mechanisms, such as index insurance, that do not require verification of loss, only the hydro-climatic magnitude of the event, have lately seen increasing use to help mobilize cash to support relief efforts.