Activities of the Japan Disaster Charter for the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake

Abstract

The Japan Disaster Charter is an operational framework for the integrated use of public and commercial Earth-observation satellites during disasters. Following the M7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture on 28 July 2026, the Charter was activated three minutes after the event. Multiple SAR satellites, including StriX, QPS-SAR, and Capella, were tasked during the first night, followed by high-resolution optical observations by Pleiades Neo and Pleiades the next day. Satellite data were interpreted to identify landslides and building and infrastructure damage, and the resulting information products were delivered to disaster-management agencies as maps, GIS data, and PDF reports. This paper describes the observation strategy and operational workflow from satellite tasking to product delivery and discusses the significance of combining multiple satellite resources for rapid, wide-area damage assessment.