Earthquake experts focus on helping Haiti

They have helped to develop the Virtual Disaster Viewer (VDV), a unique web portal that aid agencies rely on to target emergency food and medical supplies, prioritise repairs to infrastructure, and plan reconstruction and recovery. UCL's contingent are among the hundreds of earthquake scientists and engineers working with the VDV to access high-resolution 'before and after' satellite and aerial photos of the disaster zone. Each expert is assigned a number of kilometre grids for damage assessment, with an area of over 300 square kilometres covered in all. The satellite and aerial photos show details down to the level of individual buildings, cars, vegetation and even folds in tents in temporary encampments. The experts then submit detailed assessments about the type and extent of damage caused to buildings, roads, bridges and other key infrastructure, and of where refugees are congregating. The VDV collates this information to build up a master map of the damage and dislocation caused across the whole disaster zone. It can also integrate aerial intelligence with detailed ground-based photos as it allows field reconnaissance teams to upload photos in real-time.