A powerful earthquake (Richter magnitude 9.2) occurred near to the northwest shore of Sumatra, on 26 December, 2004. It triggered a giant tsunami that devastated Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Many donors provided recovery aid, without coordination or proper auditing. This may have led to waste, fraud and corruption. This study investigated an application of remote sensing to enhance financial accountability and transparency in managing reconstruction projects following natural disasters, by automatically identifying buildings constructed as a result of the disaster response, using Banda Aceh as a test area. The increasing availability of high-resolution satellite images, such as the KOMPSAT-2 used in this study, together with aerial orthophotos, makes such a procedure potentially a practical part of a disaster recovery audit.The segmentation algorithm of eCognition was used to generate image segments. These segments were then classified as "building" and "background"…
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This paper introduces the Recovery Project,which aims to identify indicators of post-disaster recoveryusing satellite imagery, internet-based statistics andadvanced field survey techniques. This paper reviews therecovery literature as a means of introducing the recoveryprocess and the considerations that must be made whenevaluating recovery. This is followed by an introduction tothe Recovery project and its two case study sites: 1. BanNam Khem, Thailand and 2. Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. Areview of the recovery process at Ban Nam Khem ispresented along with a diagram of potential indicatorsobtained from the literature research. The paperconcludes with a short discussion on how remote sensingmay be used to monitor some of these indicators.
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In order to evaluate emergency response and rehabilitation planning after a disaster, it is important to grasp the distribution of the damaged buildings as soon as possible. Images remotely sensed from satellites are quite useful to widely capture the condition of the surface ground. Visual detection method of the building damage has been applied to the high-resolution satellite images observed before and after recent large earthquakes [Chiroiu et al. (2002) and Kouchi et al. (2004)]. However, characteristics of the image in the building damage area due to other disasters such as tsunami have not been examined in detail.
The Sumatra earthquake on 26th December 2004 (Mw9.3) brought great tsunami damage to the countries in the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka is one of the countries that are severely damaged due to the tsunami. In order to evaluate the damage distribution in the eastern part of Sri Lanka, the visual detection method of the damage is applied to the high-…
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An attempt was made to conduct spatial assessment of the pattern and extent of damage to coastal aquaculture ponds along the east coast of Aceh province in Sumatra, Indonesia, resulting from the tsunami event of 26 December 2004. High-resolution satellite imagery, i.e., SPOT-5 multispectral scenes covering the 700 km stretch of the coast, acquired before and after the tsunami, were digitally enhanced and visually interpreted to delineate pockets of aquaculture ponds that were discerned to be damaged and relatively intact. Field checks were conducted at 87 sites in the four eastern coastal districts. The results indicate that SPOT-5 multispectral imagery was minimally sufficient to detect areas of damaged and relatively intact aquaculture ponds, but the 10-m spatial resolution poses limitations to evaluating the extent of pond damage. Nevertheless, the 60 km swath of the imagery makes it reasonably affordable for large-area assessment to identify pockets of severe…
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This paper highlights the use of remote sensing technologies in disaster management, notably post-earthquake/tsunami damage detection due to the 2003 Bam Earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, and seismic risk assessment based on land use classification in Metro Manila, the Philippines. QuickBird (QB) images taken before and after the 26 December 2003 Bam Earthquake were used in visual damage interpretation based on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) building by building. An automated damage detection method was also applied to the post-event Ikonos and QB images. The results of these damage inspections were compared with field survey data and the accuracy and limitation of visual and automated damage detections were presented. QB images and GPS-synchronized photo/video were employed in the damage survey after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in the south Thailand. Terra-ASTER images were also used to identify tsunami inundation areas comparing the pre-event…
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There is an increasing interest in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of remote sensing imagery and geographic information system products as they relate to estimating populations at risk before, during, and after natural hazards. This research examines the spatial and temporal effectiveness of satellites and extent of damage products that were created for Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the 26 December 2004 tsunami. SPOT, FORMOSAT, MODIS and Landsat ETM+imagery provides high temporal resolution data within three days of the tsunami. However, highresolution commercial satellites (Quickbird, IKONOS) provide the most accurate data that can be used to assess infrastructure damage in cities like Banda Aceh before and after natural disasters. Of the six extent of damage products (USAID, USGS, Dartmouth Flood Observatory, DLR, SERTIT, DPRC) created after the tsunami, DLR provided the most accurate data on the extentof damage in Banda Aceh (94% agreement with Quickbird…
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The earthquake triggered near Banda Ache of Indonesia on December 26, 2004 was the fifth most strong for the last 100 years and the worst in 40 years, registering a magnitude of 9.0. The epicenter was located about 300 km west of Medan, west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The earthquake was followed by tsunami, surge of waves that killed nearly a quarter of a million people, mostly in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India. The coastal regions of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia, and Myanmar were all severely affected.
This paper summarizes the effort of international agencies taken to utilize satellite remote sensing and other mapping tools to provide critical information that may have used for various relief activities and subsequent recovery activities. Services, products provided by various national and international agencies are discussed and summarized. Further, a summary of field survey conducted in Sri Lanka to identify…
December 2004 Tsunami disaster is natural disasters which is caused by purely natural phenomena and bring damage in huge scale to 6 provinces along the Andaman Sea, southern of Thailand namely Ranong, Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang, and Satun. The information gathering and applying geo-informatics technology have been used in phases of mitigation and recovery. Such an affected area interpolation can be executed successfully in multi-spatial, multi-temporal and multi-spectral characteristics. An affected and damage area as obtained from the interpolation of high resolution IKONOS and QuickBird are the main information sources. We found that main types of damage are coastalshoreline erosion and damage to constructions such as buildings, roadnetwork, bridges, shorelines, acquacultural cages, fishing vessels, and the environment as well.
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Tsunami occurred on December 26th, 2004 and caused heavy losses of lives and properties along the western coast of Thailand, especially in the six provinces along the Andaman Sea. In order to prepare for such unpredictable natural disaster, Tsunami Warning System Committee agreed to establish tsunami warning towers in the six provinces along the Andaman coastline as the first priority. GISTDA utilized LANDSAT and IKONOS satellite images along with GIS to locate the most suitable sites for tower installation. Factors that were taken into consideration in locating the sites include the risk of the area for tsunami, effectiveness of tower working range and the towers must not block the good view of scenery. The Committee then selected the sites and has established three tsunami-warning towers in Phuket, which have been in operation since April 2005. Each is located 3 km apart from each other and can broadcast within 1.5 km range. In summary, satellite images are extremely…
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A study of tsunami impact was undertaken along India’s Karaikal coast from Poovam in Karaikalto Nagore, Nagapatinam. An integrated approach was adopted for the preparation of thematic maps on land use, land cover and coastal geomorphology using multispectral remote sensing data. RTK GPS instruments were used for the collection of topographic data with contour intervals of 0.5m. The GIStool was used to incorporate the elevation data, the extent of tsunami inundation and the thematic maps derived from remote sensing data. The present study highlights the most vulnerable areas of tsunami inundation and provides demarcations of suitable sites for rehabilitation.
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