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Disaster Geoinformatics Lab
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A lab that uses satellites and supercomputers to quickly grasp the damage caused by disasters.
AboutAbout the lab
Where the damage is, and how much.
The Disaster Geoinformatics Lab is developing a new framework for detecting and assessing disaster damage.
It combines real-time computation, models that estimate damage and losses, and remote sensing.
Its goal is to deliver, as practically usable information, where a disaster has struck and how much damage it has caused.
To support disaster response, relief, and humanitarian assistance, the lab also conducts joint research with universities and companies in Japan and overseas.
Key terms
- Remote sensing
- Technology for observing the condition of the land surface from a distance, using satellites or aircraft
- Data assimilation
- A method of incorporating observational data into numerical computation to bring the computed results closer to the actual state
- GIS
- A system that overlays location-linked data on a map to display and analyze it (Geographic Information System)
NewsLab news
A paper by Director Koshimura, professors, and others was published in IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
A paper by Director Koshimura, professors, and others was published in Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers
A paper by Director Koshimura, professors, and others was published in Journal of Disaster Research
A paper by Director Koshimura, professors, and others was published in PROGRESS IN DISASTER SCIENCE
A paper on the relationship between building damage and tsunami inundation in the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake was published in Ocean Engineering
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies damage assessment for a wide range of disasters, agent-based modeling, physics-based simulation, satellite remote sensing, machine learning, digital twins of disasters, and tsunami science. It aims to detect, estimate, and map damage while a disaster is still unfolding.
*Illustrative imageEstimating Tsunami Damage on the Spot
Using earthquake information and supercomputers, the lab is developing, jointly with companies and other universities, technology to estimate tsunami damage about 20 minutes after an earthquake. The challenge is to determine the tsunami source in 10 minutes and then compute inundation on a 10 m mesh in the next 10 minutes.
*Illustrative imageSupporting Disaster Mitigation with Big Data
This project brings together disaster simulation, disaster prevention science, mathematics, and information science. Through large-scale, high-resolution numerical computation and real-time data assimilation, the lab works to build a foundation for big data analysis for disaster mitigation.
*Illustrative imageStrengthening Urban Resilience to Disasters
In partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the lab is building a simulation platform for assessing large-scale disasters and planning responses. The Japanese side will assess damage in the short term using simulation and remote sensing, and the Israeli side will develop models linked with GIS.
*Illustrative imagePredicting Tsunamis in South America
Large earthquakes in Central and South America have caused tsunami disasters that reached across the entire Pacific. By combining real-time computation and remote sensing, the lab evaluated the effects of nearby and distant tsunamis separately and developed a GIS-based system for estimating building damage.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Disaster Geoinformatics Lab consist of faculty, administrative staff, faculty with concurrent or cross-appointments, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and visiting researchers.As of 2026
- ProfessorShunichi Koshimura
- Associate ProfessorErick Mas
- Associate ProfessorBruno Adriano
- Assistant ProfessorRuben Vescovo
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Report an errorAbout the images
For images provided to us or used with permission, the source is listed on each line. Wikimedia Commons images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab (they are cropped). Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Mapping flood with Envisat's radar” Envisat satellite / CC BY-SA 3.0 igo (cropped)
- Estimating Tsunami Damage on the Spot: “Aerial view of the tsunami disaster ( )” DLR German Aerospace Center / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Supporting Disaster Mitigation with Big Data: “2011Sendai-NOAA-Energylhvpd9-05” West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / Public domain (cropped)
- Strengthening Urban Resilience to Disasters: “Jerusalem-2013-Aerial-Temple Mount 03” Godot13 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Predicting Tsunamis in South America: “Lima Peru coastline city” magicmonkey / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Advanced Computational Mechanics Lab): “Sediment Flow Simulation” 東北大学 先進計算力学研究室 / 研究室からの
提供 (cropped) - Related lab ([International Research Institute of Disaster Science] Disaster Culture Archive Lab): “Sigmaringen 2010 004” Klaus Graf / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Computational Safety Engineering Lab): “US Navy 110318-M-HU778-007 An aerial view of Ishinomaki, Japan, a week after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami devastated the area” U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Ethan Johnson / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Advanced Social Infrastructure Lab): “Levee breach site of the Chikuma River in the Hobo district, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, during Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon No. 19) in Reiwa 1 (2019)” 国土地理院 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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