Towards a rapid automatic detection of building damage using remote sensing for disaster management : The 2010 Haiti earthquake

Purpose – Satellite and airborne images are increasingly used at different stages of disaster management, especially in the detection of infrastructure damage. Although semi- or full automatic techniques to detect damage have been proposed, they have not been used in emergency situations. Damage maps produced by international organisations are still based on visual interpretation of images, which is time- and labour-consuming. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how an automatic mapping of damage can be helpful for a first and rapid assessment of building damage. Design/methodology/approach – The study area is located in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) stricken by an earthquake in January 2010. To detect building damage, the paper uses optical images (15 cm of spatial resolution) coupled with height data (LiDAR, 1 m of spatial resolution). By undertaking an automatic object-oriented classification, the paper identifies three categories of building damages: intact buildings, collapsed buildings and debris. ...

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