Statistical analysis to assess building damage in 2008 Wenchuan earthquake from multi-temporal SAR images

Abstract

The statistical approaches, i.e. K-distribution and Getis statistics, are applied to ALOS PALSAR image for assessing the building damage caused by Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. As a proposed image analysis, a simulated image with random bright squares, as building objects, is firstly presented for analysis of the K-distribution and Getis statistics. Then, these statistics are applied to two ALOS PALSAR images acquired before and after the Wenchuan Earthquake to assess building damage level. Results of K-distribution and Getis statistics show that the damage level might reach 93% and 81%, respectively.