26 December 2004. A tsunami of unprecedented proportions brings devastation to the Indian Ocean coastline.

Recently, hurricane Katrina ravaged the south of the United States. Winds of terrible violence devastated Louisiana, mississippi and Alabama. There are thousands of victims.

On 8 October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on Richter scale struck India and Pakistan in the Cachemire area. Earthquake effects appeared within an over 300 km-radius, in north-east India, north Pakistan and in Afghanistan.
2 weeks later, the Pakistani authorities stated a 50,000 death toll and 74,000 injured. According to UNO, 1 million people are homeless.

Given the sheer scale of such disasters, in June 2000 various space agencies decided to join forces to provide easier access to space technologies. Recognizing the potential benefits of Earth-observation, telecommunications, meteorology and satellite-based positioning technologies in disaster management, ESA and CNES drew up the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters.

^{Last updated: January 2005}