Venezuela Earthquake: Sentinel-1 Likelihood of Damaged Structures

A rapid assessment of building damage from the 24 June 2026 Venezuela earthquake (M7.5 mainshock, M7.2 foreshock), centered near San Felipe and Yumare in north-central Venezuela, with strong shaking along the central coast and into greater Caracas.

A preliminary version (v0) of this product was released on 27 June 2026 via the NASA Disaster Response and Coordination System. This second iteration (v1) expands area coverage: post-event Sentinel-1 acquisitions that were not available at the first release (v0) filled the coverage gaps within the Copernicus EMS / USGS ShakeMap Modified Mercalli Intensity ≥ VI (strong-shaking) area, raising coverage of that hazard-provenanced, damage-onset zone to 100% and increasing the number of Overture building footprints under monitoring by 26.5% (from 2,133,587 to 2,699,969, an increase of 566,382 footprints). We extended the Copernicus EMSR884 area of interest to a latitude of approximately 11.04°N to include all areas with strong shaking.

Using Sentinel-1 satellite radar coherent change detection, we estimate **69,431 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed**, as of the most recent analyzed satellite pass on 1 July 2026 (10:16 UTC). The assessment covers the entire area activated under Copernicus EMS activation EMSR884 (USGS event us6000t7zp) and is a preliminary product. These data reflect abrupt surface change consistent with damage — a damage indicator, not a confirmation of damage for any individual building.

Each building footprint carries a confidence tier (**possible / probable / high_confidence**) instead of the numeric damage probability score used in the previous delivery. The confidence tier **does not represent individual building-level damage severity**. Instead, it represents how anomalous the post-earthquake interferometric coherence was compared to roughly one year prior to the earthquake. This is described in more detail in the README and slide deck PDFs included below.

## Coverage and dates

- **Post-event:** Sentinel-1 swaths from 24 June 2026 (22:49 UTC) to 1 July 2026 (10:16 UTC), spanning eight post-earthquake acquisitions.
- **Pre-event:** 260 reference coherence images — per-scene matched-baseline stacks — from 24 April 2025 to 23 June 2026.
- **Monitored universe:** 2,699,969 Overture Maps Foundation building footprints; post-earthquake acquisitions cover 100% of the USGS ShakeMap MMI ≥ VI area.

## What's in this dataset

- `EMSR884_damage_confidence_20260701_v1.geojson` / `.gpkg` — confidence-tier quick-look layer: the 123,633 buildings flagged at any confidence tier, with `overture_id`, `damage_confidence` (possible 54,202 / probable 43,511 / high_confidence 25,920), and the binary `damage` flag (1 = probable or high_confidence; the 69,431 buildings with `damage` = 1).
- `EMSR884_analyzed_area_20260701_v1.geojson` / `.gpkg` — outline of where usable satellite coverage existed, so unassessed ground is not mistaken for undamaged.
- `EMSR884_adm2_damage_pct_20260701_v1.gpkg` — percent of assessed buildings damaged, by second-level administrative unit.

All layers are EPSG:4326 (WGS84) and open in QGIS, ArcGIS, geopandas, or R.

## README and Presentation

We have included a detailed README file and PowerPoint presentation in both English and Spanish below.

- `EMSR884_damage_20260701_v1_README.pdf` — detailed README: data description, methods, and agreement analyses (English).
- `EMSR884_damage_20260701_v1_README_ES.pdf` — the same README in Spanish.
- `EMSR884_damage_20260701_v1_slide_deck.pdf` — 32-slide briefing deck (English).
- `EMSR884_damage_20260701_v1_slide_deck_ES.pdf` — the same deck in Spanish.

Additionally, we have recorded a video presentation available in our mirrored directory.

## Citation

Cite as: Damage analysis of Copernicus Sentinel-1 data by Corey Scher and Jamon Van Den Hoek, Oregon State University. Overture Maps Foundation building footprints.

## Mirror

https://oregonstate.app.box.com/folder/394695539753?s=yrgtsbwmpqpajuhzioq0k13ihfluuneg

## NASA Disasters Portal Interactive Map

https://gis.earthdata.nasa.gov/portal/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=0c3d77dd5aae46e4829d9a282477615c

Tags: crisis-venezuela-earthquake, damage assessment
Organization: Conflict Ecology