APDIM/ESCAP & Partner Countries Provided High-resolution Satellite Images for Floods in Iran

In the Asia-Pacific region, floods are increasingly taking lives and causing a lot of economic losses and damages. At a global scale, the Asia-Pacific region is home to ten of the top fifteen countries with the highest population exposed to river floods.

Thanks to the recent scientific and technological advances especially in the use of space and satellite imageries and data, flood forecasts can now be made with more advanced notice and accuracy, Risk scenarios can be analyzed and understood better, and evaluation differences and topographical features of the affected areas can be better observed.

Extreme weather events such as flooding are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change. Because warmer air holds more moisture, intense rainstorms are expected to become more common due to global warming. Climate change effects combined with phenomena such as monsoons may exacerbate the negative impacts of floods.

 In July and August 2022, heavy rains in Iran largely due to unprecedented monsoon rain have set off flash floods in several areas across the country. At the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) of the United Nations ESCAP has,

with the assistance of member countries with satellite technology, provided the National Disaster Management Organization of Iran with the high-resolution satellite images and information on the highly flood-impacted areas. The satellite images and information provided valuable contributions to better managing the flood disaster in Iran.