World bank work:

Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd (CAR), together with EEFIT,  is contributing to World Bank’s effort to assess the usability of remotely sensed data to interpret damage to buildings after earthquakes. The image interpretation is done to provide rapid assessment of the overall damage, and is not intended to replace the damage assessment on the ground. The research is led by ImageCAT, and together with other organisations such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC), UNOSAT, German Space Agency (DLR), EERI and MCEER efforts are being made to standardize the methodology and the damage state definitions to be used in such assessments.  There will be three meetings in the following weeks where these agencies as well as academics will be discussing these issues. CAR is conducting research in terms of assessing the variability in the interpretation results, particularly in the lower damage states.  Contact Keiko for further information.