On December 18, 2023, an M6.2 earthquake struck Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, causing severe casualties. Following the event, responsible government agencies immediately initiated an earthquake emergency response supported by remote sensing technologies. Using the Jishishan earthquake as a case study, this study evaluates and compares the emergency response capabilities of ground-based rescue forces and air-and space-based platforms. It provides a detailed analysis of data acquisition and the parametric characteristics of space-based remote sensing observations across different temporal stages, as well as of the overall emergency response process. Based on the acquired data, a series of technical analyses were performed, including the extraction of damaged buildings, the derivation of the deformation field using interferometric synthetic aperture radar, the assessment of vehicle-based rescue forces, the mapping of emergency relief tents, and the distribution of damaged buildings. The analytical results were compared and validated against the actual on-site emergency response activities. Furthermore, based on the operational performance observed during this event, several challenges in the application of space-based platforms to major disaster response were identified, including the mismatch between resource planning and actual emergency needs, prolonged response chains, insufficient coordination between remote sensing support and frontline rescue requirements, and the lack of an effective emergency product sharing mechanism. In light of these issues, targeted recommendations are proposed regarding satellite mission planning, data processing, and intelligent information extraction, with the aim of enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of space-based remote sensing in disaster emergency response.