South Korean Satellite Also Assists in Turkiye Earthquake Recovery

Ministry of Science and ICT - Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

South Korea is helping to restore earthquake damage in Turkey by providing satellite imagery.

The government announced on the 12th that it is continuously providing satellite images using multipurpose practical satellites and next-generation medium-sized satellites (land satellites) to support the response to the earthquake damage in Turkey.

Multifunctional Practical Satellite 3's footage and analysis data of the Antakya region in Turkey. Photo by Ministry of Science and ICT

The Ministry of Science and ICT has joined the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters,’ an international disaster response cooperation program, and is providing satellite images from multipurpose practical satellites 3, 3A, and 5. Based on its experience providing satellite images for disaster and recovery support such as large-scale wildfires in Korea, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to contribute to global disaster relief efforts by providing images from the next-generation medium-sized satellite 1 to the Charter starting in the first half of 2023.

Since 5 p.m. local time on the 7th, the Ministry of Science and ICT has been providing images of the earthquake-affected areas taken by the multipurpose practical satellite 5 to the Charter at least once daily. Additional imaging requests have been received, and future satellite images will be provided sequentially. Furthermore, the analysis results of images taken by multipurpose practical satellite 3 on the 10th of the Antakya region were delivered to the Fire Agency to support the activities of the Korean emergency relief team.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will provide images of the earthquake-affected areas taken by the next-generation medium-sized satellite 1 to the Ministry of National Defense, the Fire Agency, and the Turkish government, among other requesting organizations, starting at 10:48 a.m. local time on the 11th. The first image is a satellite photo of the ?anlıurfa region.

Kim Gi-seok, head of the Space Technology Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Through inter-ministerial cooperation and linkage with the next-generation medium-sized satellite 1 used by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, we plan to continuously provide images of the affected areas and contribute to the international community.”

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