High-accuracy estimation method of typhoon storm surge disaster loss under small sample conditions by information diffusion model coupled with machine learning models

Typhoon storm surge disaster is the most severe marine disaster in China. Accurate estimation of typhoon storm surge disaster loss (TSSDL) is significant for emergency decisions and economic sustainability development. However, the TSSDL estimation is limited by small sample conditions, resulting in the low accuracy of the TSSDL estimation model based on machine learning. To solve the problems of easy overfitting and poor generalization ability of machine learning models under small sample conditions, the high-accuracy TSSDL estimation method was proposed. Firstly, this estimation method combines Gaussian Noise with the Information Diffusion Model based on the Vibrating String equation (named GN-VSIDM) to generate virtual samples to augment the original training set. Then, the augmented training set was applied to train three machine learning models. The results are as follows: the virtual sample generation method, i.e., GN-VSIDM, solves the small sample problem in the TSSDL estimation process and improves the machine models’ accuracy and robustness. Based on the GN-VSIDM and the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (named XGBoost) methods, the joint model GN-VSIDM-XGBoost is the optimal TSSDL estimation model. Compared with the original XGBoost model, the RMSE and R2 of the GN-VSIDM-XGBoost model are 0.1089 and 0.8292, which reduces 25.67% and improves 19.88%, respectively. Besides, the GN-VSIDM-XGBoost model possesses excellent robustness. The GN-VSIDM overcomes the limitation on the performance of TSSDL estimation models based on machine learning under small sample conditions. This study provides an effective case and method for solving the small sample problem in disaster loss assessment.