 Technology developed for the U.S. space program is being put to use on Earth. Helping the state of Florida recover from one of the worst hurricanes it has ever encountered. Just days after Hurricane Andrew carved a path of destruction across Florida, NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center responded to a request for assistance by Florida Governor Lawton Childs. Because of a long-time partnership, Florida officials were aware of the Mississippi Space Center's expertise in remote sensing and how this technology could be used to assist hurricane relief efforts. Stennis Personnel flew down to South Florida on a NASA leadership that is equipped with specialized sensors. These sensors took photographic-like images of the hurricane-stricken region. Two types of images were acquired, color infrared aerial photography and digital scanner data. NASA scientist Bruce Davis said both types are important for different reasons. The photography that we took was immediately critical to the disaster assessment procedure. It allowed for an immediate assessment of the hardest hit areas in South State County. The digital data that we acquired will be useful later on in the context of evaluating policies, regulations, building codes, zoning, so forth and so on. The photography was crucial in understanding the hardest hit areas, forming photographic maps so that damage assessment teams could get in the field, prioritize the areas to go to and go to those hardest hit areas first. Florida officials used the aerial photography to assess the amount of damage in dollars and to determine which areas had been the hardest hit so that relief efforts could be prioritized. When Davis compared infrared photos of homestead Florida taken before the hurricane with those he took less than one week after Andrew went across South Florida, the storm's destruction was evident. What we have are color infrared photography of before Hurricane Andrew and after Hurricane Andrew. As you can see, the downtown area of homestead here and in trailer parks, residential areas up in here, the after the hurricane photography shows a great deal of destruction. In an area here where you see some warehouses and strip commercial development, much of that's been destroyed or heavily damaged. The trailer park that was right here, there are actually only one to three units remaining standing right here. And in the residential area that once was in this general region, you see a great deal of debris out in there representing heavy damage to the residential district. These maps provided vital information to the frontline disaster assessment and relief teams. Knowing which areas needed immediate attention and which roads were passable or piled high with debris gave workers the help they needed to speed up the distribution of relief supplies. The color infrared imagery is also being used to study the storm's impact on the state's important natural resources. Officials are using the information to study beach loss, erosion and damage done to the mangrove areas. In this image which is a pre-android before the hurricane, the red tones here are lush, healthy, green vegetation. Over here is the after hurricane photography and as you'll notice there are no red tones indicating that all of the green leaves have been stripped from the trees. The trunks are laid over in the direction of the wind and that all we really have left here are some short low-lying grasses. The mangrove forests are important because they form a natural buffer against tidal surges which are driven in by hurricanes and the high winds. They protect communities that lie inland from coastal areas. Color infrared photography and digital scanner imagery are important tools in disaster assessment. Both are crucial in solving immediate problems, but the digital data will be used for long-term planning. This digital imagery differs from the color infrared photography in that it is digital in nature and can be incorporated as computer maps which will enable local government officials to overlay other types of maps onto it and assess the type of let's say zoning, flood district, network, power utility, so forth and so on on this imagery and see where did the damage occur, how can they change their policies to then prevent as much damage as occurring the next time. What I'm particularly proud of is the fact that we responded very quickly to the governor's request and that we were able to put useful information in his hands in a very rapid manner. When time was critical, NASA was there sharing space-developed technology to help in hurricane relief efforts. This assistance continues as the state looks for ways to rebuild communities left destroyed. Reporting for NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, this is Johnny Mann.