Tsunami Damage Mapping and Assessment in Sumatra Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

We used high-resolution SPOT 5 images acquired before and after the tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 to perform the damage assessment using image processing and GIS techniques to study the effects of the tsunami on coastal features. Our study area covers all tsunami affected regions along the western coast of Sumatra. A landuse map was created based on the pre-tsunami SPOT 5 images and a damage map was produced from pre and post-tsunami SPOT 5 images. IKONOS images of the affected areas were used as ground truth data. Our damage assessment map shows that much of the low land area, such as aquaculture ponds, cities and villages near the coast, paddy fields and mangrove etc., were severely damaged. Coastline features were significantly eroded and destroyed. This paper demonstrates that the integration of remote sensing and GIS is an effective approach for tsunami damage assessment.