Thai Damage Analysis

Volunteers from ESRI-Thailand have been to Takua Pa district, the most damaged area in the country, to assist search teams and to analyse tsunami damage using geo-information technology. The most urgent mission shortly after the disaster was to search for survivors and to locate the dead. Maps of the area were generated using aerial orthophotos from the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) and satellite images from Geo-Informatics and the Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) taken after the tsunami. Comparative maps were produced using 2003 orthophotos from the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives (MOAC) together with the RTAF and GISTDA imagery and a 3D animation sequence of the damaged areas was created. Finally, the ESRI team used video-mapping technology that included GPS positions to help investigative teams in examining the damage.