Natural disaster monitoring by remote sensing in Hungary: waterlogging and floods in the 1998-2001 period

Natural disasters management can substantially be helped by remote sensing in many areas. Not only the objective documentation of the disasters can be done through the utilization of satellite data in many cases, but this technology also provides information for the planning, during the prevention, preparation period and also in the most serious time of the mitigation. Excessive and lacking water, that is flood, waterlog and draught are quite frequent in Hungary, but in the past decade their occurrence was remarkably higher. This paper shows examples, how remote sensing techniques can operationally be used in the combat, mitigation management at local and national levels.