Aid of TECHNOLOGY during natural calamites

May it be a complete natural or human caused catastrophe, human had to face the fury of nature every
few years, losing thousands of lives and resources. Technology in this regard has played an imperative
role to lessen or even eradicate such mishap, bringing peace and assurance all over again. Famous
disasters like the New Zealand earthquake (2011), the Japan earthquake and Tsunami(2011),Queensland
flood(2010-2011), Typhoon Haiyan(2013), Haiti earthquake and many more have taken the help of
technology to aid its’ victims. The mechanism of such mission includes more or less the following
systems:

ROBOTS AND DRONES

Used to help and transfer information regarding the victim and the emergency personnel. Used to drop
humanitarian aid as well.

SERVAL PROJECT

Was developed in response to the Heiti earthquake which allowed individuals to communicate directly
using their mobile phones even though there was no actual network coverage.

TRILOGY EMERGENCY RELEIVE OPERATION (TERO)

It is an SMS TEXT SYSTEM designed for two-way communication between the disaster affected individual
and the aid agencies. Used since 2010.

AIRBORNE LADER IMAGING RESEARCH TEST BED (ALIRT)

Used to create high resolution, 3-Dimentional rendering of terrains and infrastructure of the stricken
areas. Identifies road traffic conditions, helicopter landing zones and population changes at the
displaced persons camps. Also assists aid organizations to effectively dispatch vital resources like food,
water, medical supplies, tents.

NASA FINDER

Created in response to the Nepal earthquake (2015). Used to detect human live within the carcasses of a
disaster striken area as this suitcase sized tool and detect human heartbeats through 30 feet of rubble
and 20 feet of solid concrete.

Apart from the tools acting after a cataclysm, systems are being so that they would be able to predict
any upcoming calamities and thus reducing the need to face any such natural upheaval in the first place.
Some are already in action and are stated as follows:

WILDFIRE PREDICTION

A computer model developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research stimulates how weacher
drives fire and fire creates its own weather. By restarting the model every 12 hours scientists and update
and issue forecast.

FLOOD PREDICTION
Using radar, highly detailed computer model weather forecast and advanced streamflow computer
simulations, scientists can provide LOCALLY SPECIFIC QUIDANCE for decision makers during the crucial 1-
12 hour window.

EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION

The U.S Geological survey is developing an EARTHQUAKE EARLY WARNING system, using a network of
high quality ground motion sensors.

Referrence: https://safetymanagement.eku.edu/blog/when-disaster-strikes-technologys-role-in-
disaster-aid-relief/

https://10daily.com.au/news/world/a191204eszln/2010-2019-natural-disasters-that-rocked-the-world-
this-decade-20191230