SEMINAR REPORT

On
APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING IN
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: EARTHQUAKES AND
LANDSLIDES
A report submitted for the partial fulfillment for the award of

Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering

Submitted by

SOURAB DESAI
4NI14CV097
Under the guidance of

Ms. Kanchana M S
Assistant Professor

Department of Civil Engineering

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The National Institute of Engineering
Manandavadi Road, Mysore 570008

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 CERTIFICATE

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING

(An autonomous Institution) Manandavadi Road, Mysore 570 008.

Phone: 0821-2480475, 2481220, 4004900 Fax: 0821-2485802.
E-mail: principal@nie.ac.in, Website: www.nie.ac.in)

This is to certified that SOURAB DESAI bearing the USN: 4NI14CV097 has successfully
carried out the seminar work, topic entitled APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING
IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT: EARTHQUAKES AND LANDSLIDES in Vth
Semester Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering. The seminar report satisfies the
academic requirements prescribed for the Bachelor of Engineering Degree during the year
2016 - 2017.

Ms. KANACHANA M S Dr. N. SURESH

Seminar Advisor Professor & Head

External viva
Examiners: Signature with date
1.
2.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It gives me immense pleasure to express my sincere appreciation for the assistance rendered
to me by all those who helped me in completing seminar. At the outset, I express my deep
sense of gratitude and respect towards our guide Ms. Kanchana M S, Department of civil
engineering, National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. I am very grateful to her for her
expertise and guidance that I received while collecting data on the subject and throughout the
study. In this regard, I find myself lucky to have her as our guide. I thank her for teaching me
the proper style and technique and presentation.

It is a great pleasure for me to express my gratitude towards those who were involved in
completion of my seminar report. I whole heartedly thank our HOD, Dr. N SURESH, for his
support. The various information and sources I used my report completion find place in my
report.

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 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 5

1.1 DISASTER 5
1.2 DISASTER MANAGEMENT 6

2. IMPORTANCE OF REMOTE SENSING IN DISASTER

MANAGEMENT 7

3. EARTHQUAKES 9

3.1 ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING IN EARTHQUAKES 9

4. LANDSLIDES

4.1 ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING IN LANDSLIDES

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1. Introduction
1.1 DISASTER
Disaster is a natural or man-made (technological) hazard resulting in a event of
substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or
drastic change to the environment.
NATURAL DISASTERS
EARTHQUAKES

LANDSLIDES

FLOODS

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 CYCLONES

VOLCANOES

1.2DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Disaster management can be defined as the discipline and profession of applying
science, technology, planning, and management to deal with extreme events.The emphasis of
disaster management is prevention and loss reduction.
The application of remote sensing and GIS has become a well developed and
successful tool in disaster management, as we have our location observation programmes and
the requisite for hazard mitigation and monitoring rank high in the planning of new satellites.
GIS allows for the combination of different kinds of data using models. It allows for the
combination of the different kinds of spatial data with non-spatial data, attribute data and use
them as useful information in the various stages of disaster management.
Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, flood, fires, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and
cyclones are natural hazards that kill lots of of people and destroy property and infrastructure
every year. The rapid increase of the population and its increased concentration, often in
hazardous environment, has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural disasters.
Among the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with deforestation, unplanned
growth propagation non-engineered constructions which make the disaster prone areas sheer
vulnerable, slow communication, poor budgetary allocation for disaster prevention,
developing countries suffer more or less unceasingly by natural disasters.

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2. Importance of Remote Sensing in Disaster Management

Since the first Earth Resource satellite, LANDSAT-1, was launched in 1972, we have
come a long way in terms of improved sensors with better spatial and temporal resolutions.

Different satellites and sensors can provide unique information about properties of
the surface or shallow layers (top soil layer) of the Earth. For example, measurements of the
reflected solar radiation give information on albedo, thermal sensors measure surface
temperature, and microwave sensors measure the dielectric properties and hence, the
moisture content, of surface soil (Portmann and Mendel, 1997, Rombach and Mauser, 1997)
or of snow.

The impact of natural disasters can be reduced through a proper disaster management,
including disaster prevention (hazard and risk assessment, land use planning and legislation,
building codes), disaster preparedness (forecasts, warning, prediction) and rapid and
adequate disaster relief (OAS, 1990; UNDRO, 1991). Mitigation of natural disasters can be
successful only when adequate knowledge is obtained about the expected frequency,
character, and magnitude of hazardous events. Some types of disasters, like, floods or
earthquakes may originate very rapidly and may affect large areas. The use of synoptic earth
observation methods has proven to be especially suitable in the field of disaster management.
In a number of countries, where warning systems and building codes are more advanced,
remote sensing of the earth has been found successful to predict the occurrence of disastrous
phenomena and to warn people on time.

About 95 % of the natural disaster related deaths occur in the developing world, where
more than 4200 million people live. Economic losses attributable to natural hazards in
developing countries may represent as much as 80% of their gross national product. In India
for example natural catastrophes have taken the lives of 1.6 million people since 1960, and
caused over 16 billion US$ losses (Munich Reinsurance Company, 1998), mainly due to
drought, famine, tropical cyclones, floods and earthquakes. However, disasters are not
inevitable all over the world (Dutta and Herath, 1999).

Disaster management is divided into following phases:

Planning
Mitigation
Preparedness
Response
Recovery

PLANNING:

o RS & GIS is helpful with forward planning.

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 o It provides the framework for planners and disaster managers to view spatial data by
way of computer based maps.

MITIGATION:

o Representation of high risk areas.

o Facilitates the implementation of necessary mechanism to lessen the impact.

PREPAREDNESS:

o Identification of emergency areas.

o Positions of related departments, agencies and human resources.
o Makes easier for security and shelter providers to plan the strategies.

RESPONSE:
o Provide accurate information on exact location of an emergency situation.
o Time saving during the determination of trouble areas (Quick response).
o Used as floor guide for evacuation routes.

RECOVERY:
o Mapping level of damage.
o Information related to disrupted infrastructure, no. of persons dead or injured and
impact on environment.

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3. EARTHQUAKES

An earthquake is a shaking of the ground caused by the sudden breaking and

movement of large sections (tectonic plates) of the earth's rocky outermost crust. The
edges of the tectonic plates are marked by faults (or fractures).
The crust may first bend and then the stresses exceed the strength of rocks, they
break. In the process of breaking, vibrations called seismic waves are generated. These waves
travel outward from the source of the earthquake along the surface and through the earth at
varying speeds depending on the material through which they move. These waves can cause
disasters on the earth's surface.

Earthquake occurred in the recent past have raised various issues and have forced us
to think about the disaster management. It has become essential to think right from planning
stage to completion stage.

3.1 Role of remote sensing in earthquakes

The earthquakes can occur in cycles of decades or centuries. Scientists of the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) have operated seismographic stations throughout the world for
more than 35 years. For the past few years, in cooperation with the Incorporated Research
Institutions for Seismology (IRIS - a consortium of more than 90 universities), the USGS has
upgraded the system into a state-of-the-art Global Seismographic Network (GSN). The GSN
is designed for obtaining high quality data in digital form that can be readily accessed by data
users worldwide. For some stations, the data is reported to orbiting satellites, and then to the
Internet where information can be viewed using the World Wide Web.

Remote sensing techniques can add-up to the information available through seismic
techniques. Generally, the faults associated with earthquakes can be identified on good
resolution satellite imagery, whereas the volcanic related earthquakes are not all that obvious
(Richards, 1982). For this purpose land use and geological maps can give vital pointers
towards potential earthquake zones. Satellite sensors that are active in the visible and near
infrared spectral band would be useful. Though IRS (IRS-1D Handbook, 1997), NOAA
(www.usgs.gov), SPOT (www.SPOTimage.fr), LANDSAT (www.nasa.gov) and IKONOS
(www.spaceimaging.com) all of them collect the required data, LANDSAT imageries are
more popular because of the long historical data archives of the satellite and its cost
effectiveness. Conventionally, aerial remote sensing (airborne radar) would be thought as
more effective to delineate unconsolidated deposits sitting on fault zones, upon which most
of the destruction occurs, and to identify areas where an earthquake can trigger landslides but
now with 1m resolution satellite imageries professionals are very hopeful to apply more and
more of remote sensing techniques.
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MITIGATION PREPAREDNESS RESPONSE RECOVERY
SATELLITES
USED
Building stock Measuring strain Planning routes Identifying sites PALSAR
assessment. accumulation. for search and for rehabilitation IKONOS 2
rescue. INSAR
Hazard Damage SPOT
mapping. assessment. IRS
Evacuation
planning.
Deformation
planning.

Earthquake in Bhuj, India captured by IKONOS on February 2, 2001

(Source: http:/www.spaceimaging.com/carterra/applications/disaster/mozambique.htm)

Above figure is an illustration of earthquake imagery in which one- meter resolution

image, taken by Space Imagings IKONOS satellite on February 2, 2001 shows the town of
Bhuj, located in the northwestern state of Gujarat, India. The image shows extensive damage
to individual buildings as a result of the earthquake that struck Bhuj on January 26, 2001,
while many buildings suffered structural damage, such as cracked walls, the IKONOS
satellite can only detect buildings that have fully collapsed with altered rooflines. This type
of imagery could be used to assist authorities with immediate mitigation activities such as
search and rescue efforts, emergency relief and major infrastructure damage assessment.

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(Source: http://www.isro.gov.in)

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4. LANDSLIDES
A landslide is the movement of rock, debris or earth down a slope. They result
from the failure of the materials which make up the hill slope and are driven by the force of
gravity. Landslides are known also as landslips, slumps or slope failure.

4.1 Role of remote sensing in landslides

An area with a potential landslide hazard usually has some evidence of previous
occurrences. An examination of stream traces frequently shows deflections of the bed course
due to landslides. Typical features that signify the occurrence of landslides include, chaotic
blocks of bedrock whose only source appears to be upslope, crescentic scarps or scars whose
horns point downward on a normal - looking slope, abnormal bulges with disturbed
vegetation at the base of the slope, large intact beds of competent sedimentary or other
layered rock displaced down dip with no obvious tectonic relationship and mudflow tongues
stretching outward from the base of an obviously eroded scar of relatively unconsolidated
material.

The spatial resolution required for the recognition of most landslide features is
about 10 m (Richards, 1982). However, the recognition depends to a great extent on the
ability and experience of the interpreter and is enhanced by the availability of stereoscopic
coverage, which can be expensive to acquire. Although large block landslides can be detected
on LANDSAT MSS and TM imagery, SPOT PAN Imagery could be preferred with its 10 m
resolution or IKONOS 4 m multispectral image would still be better. Thermal IR scanner is
particularly useful during the night, due to the maximum temperature difference between the
terrain and the ground water, in locating seepage areas that lubricate slides. However,
limitations like, low altitude required for reasonable spatial resolution, the large number of
flight lines required for the large area involved, and the geometrical distortions inherent in
the system restrict the use of thermal IR scanner. X-band SAR can be marginally useful in a
stereo mode because of its ability to define some larger textures related to landslides. In some
cloud-prone environments SAR may be the only sensor that can provide interpretable
information.

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MITIGATION PREPAREDNESS RESPONSE RECOVERY SATELLITES
USED
Risk modelling Monitoring rainfall Damage Mapping PALSAR
Hazard and slope stability. assessment. affected areas. IKONOS 2
mapping. INSAR
Spatial planning. SPOT
Digital IRS
elevation Suggesting
models. management
practices.

SPOT multispectral images acquired before landslide on August 19, 2000

(Source: http://www.zrc-sazu.si/pic/pub/log/log.htm)

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SPOT multispectral image acquired after a landslide on 29 November 2000

(Source: http://www.zrc-sazu.si/pic/pub/log/log.htm)

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Perspective view of the area -A merged SPOT pan-multispectral image is
draped over a DEM

(Source: http://www.zrc-sazu.si/pic/pub/log/log.htm)

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5. CONCLUSION

Remote Sensing and GIS provide a database from which the

evidences left behind by disaster can be combined with other geological
and topographical database to arrive at hazard map. The area affected by
earthquakes are generally large, but they are restricted to well-known
regions (Plate contacts). Satellite data gives synoptic overview of the area
affected by the disaster. These data can be made use to create a very
large scale base information of the terrain for carrying out the disaster
assessment and for relief measures.

Remote sensing data have been proved to be useful for

landslide inventory mapping both at local and regional level. It is also
used for generating maps such as lithology, geological structure,
geomorphology, land use / land cover, drainage, landslide scarp, etc.
These maps can be combined with other terrain maps like slope, slope
aspect, slope morphology, rock weathering and slope-bedding dip
relationship in GIS environment to map the vulnerable areas for
landslides.

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