Damage Detection for the 2003 Algeria Earthquake Using Sar Intensity Images

High-resolution remote sensing using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is one of the most promising technologies for grasping damage information of built-up areas under independence of weather condition and sun illumination. A strong earthquake occurred in the coast of Algeria on May 21, 2003. The cities of Boumerdes and Zemmouri were the most extensively damaged areas. Canadian SAR satellite, RADARSAT, observed Boumerdes area by the fine beam-mode, which captures the earth surface with approximately 8 m resolution, on 4 days after the event. European SAR satellite, ERS, whose resolution is approximately 30m, also observed the same area on June 7, 2003. In this paper, we investigated the characteristics of damaged areas in the both SAR images by visual interpretation and clarified the effect of spatial resolution for the detection of damaged buildings. Then, we applied our automated damage detection technique, which was developed based on the data set of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, to the SAR images of Boumerdes. Then the accuracy of the proposed method was examined by comparing the result of the analysis with the identified damaged buildings by visual interpretation using QuickBird images.