Crowdsourcing earthquake damage assessment using remote sensing imagery

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Luke Barrington
Shubharoop Ghosh
Marjorie Greene
Shay Har-Noy
Jay Berger
Stuart Gill
Albert Yu-Min Lin
Charles Huyck

Abstract

This paper describes the evolution of recent work on using crowdsourced analysis of remote sensing imagery, particularly high-resolution aerial imagery, to provide rapid, reliable assessments of damage caused by earthquakes and potentially other disasters. The initial effort examined online imagery taken after the 2008 Wenchuan, China, earthquake. A more recent response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake led to the formation of an international consortium: the Global Earth Observation Catastrophe Assessment Network (GEO-CAN). The success of GEO-CAN in contributing to the official damage assessments made by the Government of Haiti, the United Nations, and the World Bank led to further development of a web-based interface. A current initiative in Christchurch, New Zealand, is underway where remote sensing experts are analyzing satellite imagery, geotechnical engineers are marking liquefaction areas, and structural engineers are identifying building damage. The current site includes online training to improve the accuracy of the assessments and make it possible for even novice users to contribute to the crowdsourced solution. The paper discusses lessons learned from these initiatives and presents a way forward for using crowdsourced remote sensing as a tool for rapid assessment of damage caused by natural disasters around the world.

Article Details

How to Cite
Barrington, L., Ghosh, S., Greene, M., Har-Noy, S., Berger, J., Gill, S., Lin, A. Y.-M. and Huyck, C. (2012) “Crowdsourcing earthquake damage assessment using remote sensing imagery”, Annals of Geophysics, 54(6). doi: 10.4401/ag-5324.
Section
On the use of the Internet to collect earthquake information / ed. by Rémy Bossu and Paul S. Earle
Author Biographies

Shubharoop Ghosh, ImageCat Inc., Long Beach, CA,

Vice President of Data Services

Marjorie Greene, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA,

Special Projects Manager

Jay Berger, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland, CA,

Executive Director

Stuart Gill, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, World Bank, Washington, D.C.,

Project Coordinator, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery Labs initiative 

Charles Huyck, ImageCat Inc., Long Beach, CA,

Executive Vice President