With the kickoff meeting on February 23, 2005, the joint activities of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (HGF), aiming at the implementation of a networking platform in order to structure the cooperation of the HGF research centers on the sector of natural disaster management and to allow for a fast and application-oriented exchange of information, were launched.

In the past, the Helmholtz Association and its various research centers established a variety of competences in the field of disaster management and repeatedly both gained and provided event-related data within this context. Now the goal is to integrate these expertises and activities in a synergetic way within the scope of a platform for communication and information. Crisis-relevant data shall be processed concertedly and will be provided to end-users like humanitarian relief agencies, the German government, public authorities, and the press.

The Applied Remote Sensing Cluster (CAF) at DLR accounts for its substantial expertise and its resources in the field of earth observation as well as the activities of the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) with its long-time experience in the context of disaster management. Other main actors within the platform will be the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the GKSS Research Center Geesthacht.

Representatives of GFZ and DLR met at Oberpfaffenhofen in order to coordinate the first steps of the implementation of the networking platform at the end of February. These include amongst others the setup of an expertise database, the organisation of a user workshop as well as the installation of a web-based portal for communication and information which will simplify data exchange in case of a disaster and consolidate the communication between HGF?s various research centers.