Disasters, Statistics, and the Humanitarian Sector

This report from Hamish William Patten and NASA Lifelines Advisor Zineg Bhaby unpacks the critical function that statistics can serve in natural disaster response. Their recently published report lays out statistical methods as a foundation for humanitarian analysis and identifies the gaps where future applications can improve preparation for and response to disasters.

  • spacex VBNb52J8Trk unsplash scaled

    Earth Science Review Board Process Overview

    The Earth Science Review Board (ESRB) Process Overview explains the process and structure of the board, detailing how humanitarian funders can engage with Earth science experts for program reviews. It outlines participant roles, expectations, and the review process, including the submission of cases, expert selection, and the board meeting structure.
  • NASA Lifelines Ready for Impact Showcase 2025 highlights

    Lifelines Ready for Impact Showcase – Highlights Video

    This 27-minute highlight reel captures top moments from the NASA Lifelines Ready for Impact pitch showcase, featuring all presenting teams and funder panelists
  • Speed Dating v1.5 02 scaled

    Speed Dating Research Briefs September 2025

    Our September 2025 Virtual Speed Dating Event pairs humanitarians and Earth scientists to tackle shelter, damage, and displacement, guided by briefs on unmapped facilities, impact updates, and displacement signals.
  • DataStudios Screenshot

    Why Data Studios?

    The Data Studios are a different way of organizing geospatial and remote sensing resources. Instead of starting with a dataset and asking people to figure out what to do with it, we start with the real-world questions and work backwards from the use case.
  • IMG 6752 scaled

    Building Crisis-Ready Partnerships: Learning from “Speed Dating” in Bogotá

    At our Bogotá Speed Dating event under the Twilio Crisis Readiness Accelerator, 64 participants from humanitarian, government, and technical organizations convened to form new partnerships backed by flexible pilot grants.
  • Disaster response and recovery: supper club pre-read

    This Supper Club pre-read introduces how GeoAI is being applied to disaster response, damage assessments, and longer- term recovery. Both this document and the accompanying Supper Club discussion are part of the broader Lifelines humanitarian geoAI research initiative, which aims to evaluate the use of GeoAI across the humanitarian lifecycle and to develop guidelines for its responsible application