Visual Damage Interpretation of Buildings in Bam City Using QuickBird Images Following the 2003 Bam, Iran, Earthquake

A strong earthquake struck the city of Bam in southeast Iran on 26 December 2003. The earthquake brought massive destruction to the city and its surrounding rural areas. QuickBird, a high-resolution satellite, captured a clear image of Bam on 03 January 2004, eight days after the event. The city was also observed by QuickBird on 30 September 2003, about three months before the event. In this paper, using the pre-event image, the location of individual buildings was registered on GIS and the city blocks surrounded by major roads were assigned. Then, the visual damage interpretation based on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) was carried out building by building, comparing the pre-event and post-event images. The result of the damage inspection was compared with field survey data, and the accuracy and usefulness of the high-resolution satellite images in damage detection was demonstrated.