Building a shared ground truth for Japan’s next era of disaster response

Japan is strengthening its national approach to disaster management at a time when earthquakes, typhoons, floods, landslides, and other hazards continue to place significant demands on government and response organizations.

As part of that effort, Japan plans to establish a new Disaster Management Agency later this year to strengthen coordination across the government, from preparedness and emergency response through recovery and reconstruction. That increased coordination creates an opportunity to strengthen the information infrastructure behind it as well. National agencies, prefectures, municipalities, and response partners all need access to a common, current understanding of conditions on the ground. Vantor is ready to help Japan build that shared ground truth through spatial intelligence that can complement the systems and workflows responders already use.

“Japan has some of the world’s most sophisticated disaster management institutions and some of its most demanding operating environments,” said Peter Hawkins, Vice President of APAC Sales at Vantor. “As Japan strengthens its national disaster management capabilities, we believe trusted spatial intelligence that complements existing systems can better enable responders to understand changing conditions faster to save lives, resources, and property.”

Understanding change when every minute matters 

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Japan’s Noto Peninsula on January 1, 2024. It severely damaged Wajima, triggering a major fire that destroyed part of the city’s historic center. The earthquake also caused landslides across the region and a tsunami along the coast. Vantor’s satellites collected images in the immediate aftermath, and they were released via the company’s Open Data Program to help first responders plan their rescue and recovery efforts. 

When a natural disaster occurs, understanding what has changed on the ground is one of the first challenges responders face. They cannot effectively prioritize rescue, route response teams, or stage supplies without knowing which communities and infrastructure have been hardest hit and which routes remain accessible.

Vantor brings together AI, 3D data, and high-resolution satellite imagery to understand how a situation is changing, allowing first responders to know where attention is needed most. Vantor’s Open Data Program releases imagery during times of crisis to support damage assessment, identify disrupted or destroyed infrastructure and access routes, prioritize response, and track recovery. This data is provided under a Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license, which enables humanitarian organizations and first responders to access and share the information quickly when time matters most.

A proven track record of monitoring natural disasters in Japan 

Vantor has supported natural disaster response and recovery efforts in Japan for decades, including the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor explosion. During that critical week in March 2011, Vantor’s constellation collected more than 300,000 sq km of imagery across northeastern Japan in four days. Analysts used that imagery to document flooding, debris, damaged infrastructure, and changes at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, giving government agencies, infrastructure operators, and first responders visibility into areas that were dangerous for humans to access directly.

Vantor’s satellites kept an eye on the changing situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the earthquake and tsunami. On March 14, 2011, two satellites imaged the facility minutes before and after one of the reactors exploded. 

That support continued well beyond the immediate response. High-resolution imagery was tasked to monitor the reactors as recovery and decommissioning progressed, including tracking the expanding storage of treated radioactive water and changes to damaged reactor buildings years after the disaster. The response demonstrated the value of rapidly tasking satellites, analyzing new imagery, and delivering a common view of evolving conditions during a complex crisis.

A shared view of the operating environment for a coordinated response 

Japan’s new Disaster Management Agency creates an opportunity for the country’s disaster management infrastructure: A spatial intelligence capability can connect national agencies, prefectures, municipalities, and response partners to a common, current view of the physical world that complements the systems and expertise they already rely on.

As the country strengthens coordination for the next generation of disasters, Vantor is ready to help make trusted spatial intelligence a shared capability across the response ecosystem, connecting data, systems and organizations before an emergency begins. The result is a common ground truth that can support faster, more coordinated action through preparedness, response and recovery.

See how Vantor supports disaster response