Quick assessment on identification of damaged building and land‐use changes in the post‐tsunami disaster with a quick‐look image of IKONOS and Quickbird (a case study in Meulaboh City, Aceh)

Abstract

The study shows how far remote‐sensing technology can contribute to assess quickly the impact of the tsunami disaster in Aceh, Indonesia. It focuses on the identification of damaged buildings and land‐use changes in the post‐tsunami disaster using a quick‐look image of IKONOS and Quickbird. The method includes pre‐processing, on‐screen digitizing, change detection, and generating thematic maps. The results obtained from the study include information about distribution of damaged buildings, land‐use changes, and total coverage of land affected by the tsunami disaster. Building units decreased almost 85%, from 4546 units to 649 units. Up to 2 303 046 m2 of vegetated became mud‐covered, while there was a decrease in the area of vegetated land, up to 1 869 676 m2. For the relocation stage, the proposed method, called a quick standard procedure, is an appropriate approach which needs to be adopted by local government, non‐governmental organizations, and volunteers.