EARTHQUAKE DAMAGES ASSESSMENT USING SAR DATA

The damages of the buildings and man-made structures where most of the human activities depend are the major cause of casualties from the earthquakes. A suitable technique for quick geospatial reporting of the earthquake damage severity is presented in this research. The satellite-based Earthquake Damage Severity (EDS) assessment was evaluated in the Kathmandu valley which was severely shaken by 2015-Nepal Earthquake. The EDS is solely based on satellite SAR data, which are vital for large area coverage even in the case of critical atmospheric conditions such as clouds and rains. The EDS considers the limited time available in post-disaster situation offering quick computation exclusively based on two pairs of pre-seismic and co-seismic single look complex (SLC) images. It is expected that the quick reporting of the post-disaster damage situation quantified by the EDS should assist in channeling the rescue and emergency operations, and in informing the public about the scale of damage.