Developing an Automated System for Simple Estimation of the Direct Damage Amounts from Earthquakes

Abstract

Earthquakes damage physical assets, such as houses, public infrastructure, fields, factories, facilities, as well as inventory of timbers, crops, or products. A direct damage amount is the primary evidence for financial measures to restore and reconstruct the affected areas. Therefore, from a policy perspective, it is essential to estimate it quickly and accurately. Cui et al. have proposed a simple method for estimating direct damages [1, 2]. This study aimed to build a prototype of automatic estimation system and discuss its social implementation. As a result, we succeeded in estimating three earthquakes – the 2018 Osaka Prefecture Northern Earthquake, 2018 Hokkaido Iburi Earthquake, and 2019 Yamagata-oki Earthquake – damage amounts automatically and defining some technical requirements for development. On the other hand, it is necessary to replace the Minryoku index, which is used for Cui’s estimation method and no longer being updated, by new physical assets quantity index, which is continuously updatable. Moreover, the estimation accuracy must be evaluated and improved in finer units of space.