Turkey-Syria Earthquake Assessment Using High-Resolution Night-time Light Images

Objectives The Turkey-Syria earthquake occurred on February 6th, 2023, and caused heavy casualties and property losses. This paper used high-resolution night-time light images to assess the damage of the affected cities.

Methods A multivariate power function regression model was used for intercalibration between sustainable development goals satellite-1(SDGSAT-1) and Yangwang-1 night-time light images. And the disaster assessment was carried out in the cities of Adiyaman and Antakya-Defne in Turkey.

Results The results show that the power facilities of Adiyaman and Antakya-Defne were severely damaged in the earthquake. The light loss rate of more than half of the building area exceeded 80%, and the overall light loss rate of the building area exceeded 70%. Additionally, the light loss rate in the east of Adiyaman was higher than that in the west, and the light loss rate in the downtown area of Antakya-Defne was higher than that in the suburbs.

Conclusions The high-resolution night-time light images can effectively assess the impact caused by natural disasters, and the assessment results can also help local government departments guide emergency relief and reconstruction work after the earthquake.