National Science Foundation Showcases ImageCat’s Remote Sensing Disaster Research
Long Beach, CA - July, 2007. In a special report on "Understanding Disasters" National Science Foundation has showcased ImageCat's Remote Sensing Disaster research. In two of the featured disasters, Hurricane Charley (2004) and Bam Iran Earthquake (2003), ImageCat used rapid analysis techniques with high resolution satellite images to assess damage to a vast number of buildings.
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For those already living in high-risk areas, researchers are trying to learn more about the root causes behind disasters and why some structures survive them while others do not. Supported in part by a rapid-response NSF Small Grant for Exploratory Research, Beverley Adams of ImageCat, Inc., Kishor Mehta of Texas Tech University and their colleagues, focused on damage caused by Hurricane Charley, the most devastating U.S. storm of 2004. By analyzing high-resolution pictures captured from space, the researchers found they could rapidly assess damage to a vast number of buildings, a technique that may one day prove invaluable to first responders and public officials trying to allocate resources after a crisis. Evidence of storm damage is short-lived – due to natural causes such as erosion, and to the cleanup and restoration that follow the crisis. Rapid-response researchers like Adams must arrive on the scene before critical knowledge is lost to those efforts. By adding satellite imagery to their ground-based surveys, the team was able to record the condition of up to 2,500 buildings each day. Earlier methods were lucky to catch 100 buildings in the same day’s work. |
