India has received satellite data on flood-hit regions from 8 nations

New Delhi: India has received satellite data on its flood-hit regions from eight nations, including the US, China and Russia, as part of a multilateral mechanism for sharing space-based data for countries affected by natural or man-made disasters, the External Affairs Ministry said on Friday.

Whenever there is a natural disaster, the National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) and member space agencies of 32 other countries which are a part of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters can activate the platform, the ministry said.

"The charter then seeks the information pertaining to the disaster-hit area available with all the 33 member space agencies. This is the standard practice," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to a query on sharing of satellite data for flood relief efforts.

The NRSC represents the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as a member of the charter which has been set up under the UN-SPIDER (United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response), he said.

"By combining earth observation assets from different space agencies, the charter allows resources and expertise to be coordinated for rapid response to major disaster situations," he said.