Since synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors onboard satellites can work under all weather and sunlight conditions, they are suitable for information gathering in emergency response after disasters occur. This study attempted to extract collapsed bridges in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, which was affected by more than 15-m high tsunamis due to the Mw 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011. First, the locations of the bridges were extracted using GIS data of roads and rivers. Then, we attempted to detect the collapsed or washed-away bridges using visual interpretation and thresholding methods. The threshold values on the SAR backscattering coefficients and the percentage of non-water regions were applied to the post-event high-resolution TerraSAR-X images. The results were compared with the optical images and damage investigation reports. The effective use of a single SAR intensity image in the extraction of collapsed bridges was demonstrated with a high overall accuracy of more than 90%.

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