Special Issue: Remote Sensing Contributing to Mapping Earthquake Vulnerability and Effects

Abstract

When a severe earthquake hit the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010 neither the city administration, her inhabitants nor national or international organisations were prepared for its devastating impact. Official numbers reported 316.000 deaths and 1.000.000 people homeless. This example among many devastating earthquake events in recent years shows the vulnerability of our cities and people to natural hazards. Many risk-relevant questions before, during and after such catastrophic events are space related. Unfortunately, conventional sources of information on the most vulnerable areas on our planet, the cities, are frequently inadequate. The necessary data are often generalized, outdated, unreliable, or in some cases simply unavailable. And, according to the latest United Nations’ projections, virtually all of the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will be absorbed by urban areas. Thus this task will even get more challenging. Remote sensing is an independent data source, where data are theoretically globally available at various spatial and temporal scales. The overall aim of this “Special Issue” is to present and inform the multi-disciplinary risk community on the latest developments, capabilities and limitations on remote sensing data, methods and applications regarding earthquake vulnerability and effects. It aims to integrate studies and projects on the vulnerability assessment as well as the mapping consequences part of the risk framework using any kind of remotely sensed data before, during and after earthquake events.