An overview of missons in which UAVs were used to record raw data flighting above the affected from natural disasters areas; and to map and to assess the damages caused. 

FIRE AND DAMAGES MAPPING

Τhe “Department for the Recovery from the Impact of Natural Disasters” (Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks) assigned BEYOND “Centre of Excellence for EO-based monitoring of Natural Disasters” to undertake a pilot mission for the recording of damages caused by the fire in Thassos island on 10.09.2016. The mission included UAV flights to capture the affected areas and properties with high resolution digital photos and to deliver photo-interpreted orthomosaics of the areas.

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGES AT VERY LARGE SCALE

From the recent earthquakes on the Greek island of Kefalonia, it became apparent that UAV technology can assist in mapping damages following a catastrophic event and assessing the Mercalli Intensity of the earthquake.

BEYOND, in collaboration with Geotech LTD (dealer of the Gatewing UAV in Greece) flew a mission over the urban area of Lixouri, five semi-urban areas (Vouni, Mantzavinata, Soullari, Agios Dimitrios and Livadi) and two rural areas (close to the road connecting Lixouri and Argostoli). Geotech LTD provided orthorectified images for each region. BEYOND team imported the images to a GIS and a point database was built in an attempt to detect and classify earthquake related damages. Three types of damages were monitored via simple ortho-interpretation: damages a) on ground level such as damages on roads, harbor infrastructure, cemeteries etc. and also small landslides, b) on walls and c) on roof-tops. This process was done via simple photo-interpretation.