Earthquake Damage, Italy
A day and a half after a deadly Earthquake struck near Norcia, Italy, destruction in the town of Amatrice was evident from space. These images were collected by two of Planet’s RapidEye satellites on August 4 and August 25, 2016.
In the August 25 image, many of the town’s red tile roofs have disappeared—some because the building collapsed while others were covered in gray dust. Open spaces next to the town turned from green to blue, likely filled with blue tarps or tents erected to house displaced residents.
In the immediate aftermath of a disaster high cadence 5-meter-class satellite imagery can help emergency responders allocate resources to the areas most in need. This medium-resolution imagery also enables officials to survey wide areas for the effects of disasters that occur away from human habitation, like landslides or damaged infrastructure.
Planet coordinates disaster repsonse with the U.N. International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
In the wake of this earthquake, we are publishing a georeferenced true-color image from August 25 under a cc-by-sa 4.0 license.
