Haiti From Space

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday, causing incredible destruction and tens of thousands of deaths so far, has sparked a huge international aid effort. Rescue workers from many nations are in Port-au-Prince searching for survivors. Part of that effort involves satellite images.

Several nations that have Earth-observation satellites have trained those cameras on the earthquake region over the past few days. Comparing those images with images of the same areas before the quake is giving rescuers some idea of where they might look for survivors. The satellite images are also in various wavelengths. Properly interpreted, that data can give rescue workers-- and later, architects and engineers-- an idea of what's underneath the surface of the rubble. That information can save lives, limit the risks to rescue workers, and eventually help determine exactly what happened to the buildings during the quake.