ACCURATE EVALUATION OF BUILDING DAMAGE IN THE 2003 BOUMERDES, ALGERIA EARTHQUAKE FROM QUICKBIRD SATELLITE IMAGES

Abstract

Using QuickBird satellite images of Boumerdes city obtained following the 21 May 2003 Algeria earthquake, our study examined the applicability of high-resolution optical imagery for the visual detection of building damage grade based on the ground-truth data on the urban nature, typology of a total of 2,794 buildings, and the real damage observed. The results are presented as geographical information system (GIS) damage mapping of buildings obtained from field surveys and QuickBird images. In general, totally collapsed buildings, partially collapsed buildings, and buildings surrounded by debris can be identified by using only post-event pan-sharpened images. However, due to the nature of the damage observed, some buildings may be judged incorrectly even if preevent images are employed as a reference to evaluate the damage status. Hence, in this study, we clarify the limitations regarding the applicability of high-resolution optical satellite imagery in building damage-level mapping.