Evacuation Priority Method in Tsunami Hazard Based on DMSP/OLS Population Mapping in the Pearl River Estuary, China

Abstract

Evacuation plans are critical in case of natural disaster to save people’s lives. The priority of population evacuation on coastal areas could be useful to reduce the death toll in case of tsunami hazard. In this study, the population density remote sensing mapping approach was developed using population records in 2013 and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) night-time light (NTL) image of the same year for defining the coastal densest resident areas in Pearl River Estuary (PRE), China. Two pixel-based saturation correction methods were evaluated for application of population density mapping to enhance DMSP/OLS NTL image. The Vegetation Adjusted NTL Urban Index (VANUI) correction method (R2 (original/corrected): 0.504, Std. error: 0.0069) was found to be the better-fit correction method of NTL image saturation for the study area compared to Human Settlement Index (HSI) correction method (R2 (original/corrected): 0.219, Std. error: 0.1676). The study also gained a better dynamic range of HSI correction (0~25 vs. 0.1~5.07) compared to the previous one [27]. The town-level’s population NTL simulation model is built (R2 = 0.43, N = 47) for the first time in PRE with mean relative error (MSE) of 32% (N = 24, town level), On the other side, the tsunami hazard map was produced based on numerical modeling of potential tsunami wave height and velocity, combining with the river net system, elevation, slope, and vegetation cover factors. Both results were combined to produce an evacuation map in PRE. The simulation of tsunami exposure on density of population showed that the highest evacuation priority was found to be in most of Zhuhai city area and the coastal area of Shenzhen City under wave height of nine meters, while lowest evacuation priority was defined in Panyu and Nansha Districts of Guangzhou City, eastern and western parts of Zhongshan City, and northeast and northwest parts of Dongguan City. The method of tsunami risk simulation and the result of mapped tsunami exposure are of significance for direction to tsunami disaster-risk reduction or evacuation traffic arrangement in PRE or other coastal areas in the world.

Correlation Analysis between UBD and LST in Hefei, China, Using Luojia1-01 Night-Time Light Imagery

“…Using remote sensing images to extract UBD information is also a fast and effective method to make up for the shortcomings of traditional manual mapping methods. Existing studies on UBD tend to use high-resolution remote sensing satellites for research because they are more accurate [11,28,29], but their shortcomings are also obvious, such as complex building analysis, the cumbersome automated extraction process, and a large number of computations.NTL remote sensing is widely used in macroeconomic and social parameter estimation [30][31][32], urban monitoring [33][34][35][36], great event change [37,38], energy consumption [39,40], ecological environment assessment [41,42], and other fields. Due to the low spatial resolution of NTL images, previous studies focused on macroscopic dimensions, such as national or urban scales.…”

“…NTL remote sensing is widely used in macroeconomic and social parameter estimation [30][31][32], urban monitoring [33][34][35][36], great event change [37,38], energy consumption [39,40], ecological environment assessment [41,42], and other fields. Due to the low spatial resolution of NTL images, previous studies focused on macroscopic dimensions, such as national or urban scales.…”

Synergy of Road Network Planning Indices on Central Retail District Pedestrian Evacuation Efficiency

“…In urban evacuation, the pedestrian evacuation road network has experienced a development from macroscopic qualitative research to meso-microscopic quantitative research. These disciplines include urban planning [13][14][15][16], transportation [17][18][19] and urban design [20][21][22]. Relevant conclusions discuss the interaction between evacuation environments and evacuees.…”

Microsoft building footprint application To detect human exposure due to tsunami

“…This research was conducted in the coastal area of Bantul Regency. Mapping the population distribution in coastal areas is very important to inform the government in making the right decisions regarding the priority of evacuation and rescue operations (Mohamadi et al, 2019). Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2022, around 4.36% or 43,525 of the 998,647 residents of Bantul Regency live in coastal areas.…”