Assessment of Xizang earthquake based on high spatial remote sensing data

The comparisons between the post-disaster GLI images (7 January and 12 January 2025) and the pre-disaster archived GLI images (27 December 2024) provide critical insights into the impacts of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Tingri County, Shigatse City, Xizang (Tibet), at 09:05 (Beijing Time, hereafter BJT) on 7 January 2025. As of 19:00 (BJT) on the same day, the earthquake had caused 126 fatalities, injured 188 people to varying degrees, and led to the collapse of 3,609 houses. In response, the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) activated its emergency framework to capture and analyze imagery of the affected area.

The key findings are as follows:

• The establishment of relief camps in response to the earthquake on January 7, 2025 at Tingri County, Shigatse City, Xizang, has introduced more light sources in affected towns, i.e., Cuoguo Town, Changsuo Town, Guojia Town, and Quluo Town.
• Illumination level in the affected villages, including Xuezhu, Jiding, Senga, Chajiang, and Gading, has significantly raised.
• The increasing light in the affected Towns and Villages can be attributed to the timely relief.
• SDGSAT-1/GLI, with 10m high spatial resolution, is of great importance for natural disaster management.
• Continuous observations have been planned for full assessment of power recovery.