Luis Moya

With the remarkable progress in access to remote sensing imagery data, nowadays research very often utilizes more than one image. We are often able to use multitemporal, hyperspectral, and/or full polarization of microwave radar images. In addition, it has become the general consensus that texture analysis plays an important role in remote sensing. It has been found in several publications that texture analysis was applied to each layer separately; however, this procedure requires a significant

Abstract. The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence was triggered by an Mw 6.2 event at 21:26 on 14 April. Approximately 28 h later, at 01:25 on 16 April, an Mw 7.0 event (the mainshock) followed. The epicenters of both events were located near the residential area of Mashiki and affected the region nearby. Due to very strong seismic ground motion, the earthquake produced extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure. In this paper, collapsed buildings were detected using a pair of digital surfac

Change detection between images is a procedure used in many applications of remote sensing data. Among these applications, the identification of damaged infrastructures in urban areas due to a large-scale disaster is a task that is crucial for distributing relief, quantifying losses, and rescue purposes. A crucial consideration for change detection is that the images must be co-registered precisely to avoid errors resulting from misalignments. An essential consideration is that some large-magnit

Although supervised machine learning classification techniques have been successfully applied to detect collapsed buildings, there is still a major problem that few publications have addressed. The success of supervised machine learning strongly depends on the availability of training samples. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster, training samples become available only after several weeks or even months. However, following a disaster, information on the damage situation is o

Abstract. The spatial distribution of the coseismic displacements that occurred along the Futagawa fault during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake of Mw 7.0 was estimated using airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data. In this study, a pair of digital surface models (DSMs) obtained from the high-density lidar data before and after the mainshock on 16 April 2016 were used. A window matching search approach based on the correlation coefficient between the two DSMs was used to estimate the geode

Applications of machine learning on remote sensing data appear to be endless. Its use in damage identification for early response in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster has a specific issue. The collection of training data right after a disaster is costly, time-consuming, and many times impossible. This study analyzes a possible solution to the referred issue: the collection of training data from past disaster events to calibrate a discriminant function. Then the identification of affected a

Previous applications of machine learning in remote sensing for the identification of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster have been successful. However, standard methods do not consider the complexity and costs of compiling a training data set after a large-scale disaster. In this article, we study disaster events in which the intensity can be modeled via numerical simulation and/or instrumentation. For such cases, two fully automatic procedures for the detection of seve

Debris scattering is one of the main causes of road/street blockage after earthquakes in dense urban areas. Therefore, the evaluation of debris scattering is crucial for decision makers and for producing an effective emergency response. In this vein, this article presents the following: (1) statistical data concerning the debris extent of collapsed buildings caused by the 2016 Mw 7.0 Kumamoto earthquake in Japan; (2) an investigation of the factors influencing the extent of debris; (3) probabili

Remote sensing satellite imagery plays an important role in estimating collapsed buildings in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster. However, some previous methodologies are restricted to using specific radar sensors. Others methods, such as machine learning algorithms, require training data, which are extremely difficult to obtain immediately after a disaster. This paper proposes a novel method to extract collapsed buildings based on the integration of satellite imagery, the spatial distribut

Damage identification soon after a large-magnitude earthquake is a major problem for early disaster response activities. The faster the damaged areas are identified, the higher the survival chances of inhabitants. Current methods for damage identification are based on the application of artificial intelligence techniques using remote sensing data. Such methods require a large amount of high-quality labeled data for calibration and/or fine-tuning processes, which are expensive in the aftermath of

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images have been used to map flooded areas with great success. Flooded areas are often identified by detecting changes between a pair of images recorded before and after a certain flood. During the 2018 Western Japan Floods, the change detection method generated significant misclassifications for agricultural targets. To evaluate whether such a situation could be repeated in future events, this paper examines and identifies the causes of the misclassifications. We

A methodology to create synthetic earthquake-induced building damage states for urban areas in Japan under specific earthquake events is presented in this paper. The methodology is based on empirical fragility curves for Japanese buildings, the building database of the study area and the strong motion magnitude spatial distribution. A stochastic approach was then used to allocate damage states to buildings. The synthetic building damage scenario is intended to be used as a platform for performin

Floods increase every year worldwide, and prompt information about the affected areas is essential for early disaster response. There has been extensive development in applying remote sensing data to identify floods. In fact, remote sensing data are the only tool to identify the extent of large-scale floods within hours after their occurrence. However, few studies have addressed methods to estimate inundation depth. Inundation depth can be advantageous for identifying areas where people may need

Abstract. Lima, Peru's capital, has about 9.6 million inhabitants and keeps attracting more residents searching for a better life. Many citizens, without access to housing subsidies, live in informal housing and shack settlements. A typical social phenomenon in Lima is the sudden illegal occupation of areas for urban settlements. When such areas are unsafe against natural hazards, it is important to relocate such a population to avoid significant future losses. In this communication, we present

Urban areas are experiencing rapid growth, accompanied by significant disorder in Lima Metropolitan area and many other cities in South America. Due to decades of uncontrolled construction practices, it is imperative to identify and better understand the types of informalities prevalent in these recent urban areas. Addressing this lack of information is crucial for implementing appropriate countermeasures and developing new policies that benefit the communities residing in such areas. It is wort