Detection of Collapsed Buildings Due to Earthquakes Using a Digital Surface Model Constructed From Aerial Images

The buildings that collapsed during the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki earthquake are detected based on aerial photogrammetry using digital aerial images. The digital surface models (DSMs) in the area where severe damage to buildings was observed after the earthquake are constructed using digital aerial camera images. Pre- and post-event aerial images are employed to obtain the DSMs in this study. The differences in building heights between the pre- and post-event models are considered to detect collapsed buildings and the accuracy of the method is discussed in this paper. The results indicate that the collapsed buildings can be detected and undamaged buildings can also be correctly recognized by the proposed method.