Japan's space agency signed an agreement on Friday with Kumamoto Prefecture to realize the practical application of a program that can estimate the extent of damage to buildings caused by earthquakes using satellite images.

Under the agreement, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will receive around 200,000 pieces of data on buildings damaged in the earthquake that hit Kumamoto Prefecture in 2016 to enhance the accuracy of the program it seeks to introduce nationwide.

According to JAXA, the program can determine the extent of building damage within 2-3 hours of observation by comparing and analyzing satellite images taken before and after an earthquake. It can also be used during nighttime and bad weather.

JAXA said the program will be ready for use in a few years.

"It is my strong desire for the lessons learned by Kumamoto to be utilized for disaster response all over Japan," Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura said at the signing ceremony on Friday.

A JAXA spokesperson said the program could help determine which areas need urgent aid by showing the hardest-hit areas.

In the case of the magnitude-7.6 quake that struck the Noto Peninsula in central Japan on New Year's Day in 2024, the government said in a report that it had experienced difficulties determining the extent of damage from the short time it had till sunset.