The International Charter is a system that supplies free satellite imagery to emergency responders anywhere in the world.
The Charter concept is this: a single phone number is made available to authorized parties providing 24/7 contact to a person who can activate the charter. Once activated, a project manager takes charge. The project manager knows what satellite resources are available, how to task them to collect data, and how to quickly analyze the collected data to create impact maps for first responders. These maps, provided to responders for free, often show where the damage is and where crisis victims are, allowing responders to plan and execute relief support.
You can think of the Charter as a one-stop-shop for impact maps—an essential resource, since in many cases satellite data are the only practical method to assess current ground conditions after a disaster.


This month, 302 Landsat scenes were ingested by the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System to provide data for the following Charter activation(s):
+ Ebola mapping efforts in Africa
+ Indonesian landslide
+ Typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines
Details from the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System’s RSS feed:

On 2014-12-31 07:25:11, 12 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-30 08:29:04, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-29 13:20:25, 20 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-29 13:14:02, 16 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-29 08:48:32, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-24 05:14:53, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-24 05:11:23, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-24 05:07:58, 5 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-23 15:54:13, 13 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-23 15:47:44, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-22 06:47:12, 9 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-22 06:43:52, 10 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-22 06:34:10, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Landslide_Indonesia
On 2014-12-22 06:13:25, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-22 06:10:00, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Landslide_Indonesia
On 2014-12-19 07:59:23, 7 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-19 07:55:51, 4 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-19 07:31:38, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-18 12:16:58, 5 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-17 06:29:17, 4 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-17 06:14:24, 6 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-17 06:11:53, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-16 11:23:37, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-16 07:33:34, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-15 16:29:27, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Landslide_Indonesia
On 2014-12-15 09:08:35, 17 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-15 08:53:28, 10 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-15 08:27:47, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-12 09:23:29, 7 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-12 08:11:43, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-12 08:11:10, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-11 07:31:31, 7 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-11 06:19:31, 5 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-10 06:26:21, 5 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-10 06:21:52, 5 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-10 06:14:47, 4 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-10 06:01:16, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-09 10:46:02, 4 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-08 13:38:38, 15 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-08 13:36:33, 12 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-05 06:28:03, 8 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-04 10:44:36, 13 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201412_Typhoon_Hagupit_PHL
On 2014-12-04 05:02:43, 7 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-03 06:07:04, 7 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-02 06:22:04, 5 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-01 07:35:52, 14 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa
On 2014-12-01 07:32:36, 14 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201410_Ebola_Africa

Further Reading:
+ Mapping Disaster: A Global Community Helps from Space