EC gives coastline imagery to RI

JAKARTA: The European Commission (EC) has handed over to Indonesia detailed and very high resolution satellite imagery of the tsunami-affected coastline before and after the tsunami, the delegation of the European Commission to Indonesia said in a press release.

The imagery, according to the EC Delegation, was provided by the EC's Joint Research Center (JRC) based in Ispra, Italy and as apart of the post-tsunami assistance package.

The JRC has sent its expert to Indonesia on a two-week mission.

"The mission assisted BPN (Indonesia's National Land Agency) to gain know-how and technical expertise in processing this imagery to enable it (to be used) for large scale and detailed mapping," the release, which was sent to The Jakarta Post, said.

The EC provided technical assistance to the BPN for the transformation of this imagery into 1:5,000 scale baseline image maps.

The EC has spent some 200,000 euros (US$240,000) on preparing the imagery, which will help Indonesian authorities in arriving at a precise damage assessment, elaborating on reconstruction plans and risk analysis.

The EC has pledged 350 million euros for the reconstruction of tsunami-affected countries, of which more than 200 million euros ($240 million) are earmarked for Indonesia. -- JP