Automatic depicting algorithm of earthquake collapsed buildings with airborne high resolution image

Obtaining first-hand data and immediate information of collapsed buildings in the disaster region is exceedingly important for disaster rescue decision-making, especially when the weather is quite bad. In this work, a novel automatic depicting algorithm of earthquake collapsed buildings is proposed. This algorithm is developed based on the full understanding of the mechanisms between building's morphology in high-resolution images and the electromagnetic response of pixels in the image. Compared to the traditional depicting algorithm, this novel algorithm can depict collapsed buildings using only image after earthquake rather than images both before and after the earthquake. This algorithm has been successfully used in the Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008 and Yushu Earthquake in 2010 in China.