Determination of the areas with building damage due to the 1995 Kobe earthquake using airborne MSS images

In multi-stage remote sensing performed by NASDA just after the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake, stricken areas were observed by the airborne MSS, which has twelve bands between visible and thermal infrared. In this study, after some training areas were selected in Nada Ward using GIS data based on a field damage survey, spectral characteristics of damaged and non-damaged buildings were investigated. Then, the distribution corresponding to the damage level of buildings in the hard-hit area of Kobe City was estimated by the maximum likelihood classifier. The estimated result of areas with burned and severely damaged buildings was relatively in good agreement with the field survey data. An application of this method, based solely on the post-event image, to early damage assessment systems can be expected.