How Search and Rescue teams find survivors after earthquakes

Following a disaster, such as the earthquake in Turkey and Syria in February 2023, every second counts! Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams must act quickly and efficiently within the first few hours and days following the disaster to save entombed victims as quickly as possible.

Rapid Search and Rescue

In the early hours after a major disaster, when many areas need checking, emergency teams conduct rapid searches to maximize the opportunities for saving lives. Rescuers usually finish searching at a site within a few hours, then move to the next area. They can use this stage to identify zones where a deeper search would be worthwhile. Specially trained search and rescue dogs (K9 teams) are employed to move quickly in the rubble in order to sniff out signs of life. Indeed, these trained dogs detect live human scent, even when a victim is buried deep in rubble.

Full Search and Rescue

This phase of operations, also called ‘technical search’, locates and rescues deeply trapped survivors.

The search and rescue of entombed victims requires the involvement of search and rescue specialists with very specific USAR equipment to detect and locate victims, communicate with them and then extract and rescue them.

USAR teams often use victim location dogs, but they also use electronic victim search equipment:

• With seismic sensors/acoustic sensors,
• UWB rescue radar (Ultra-Wide Band – Ground penetrating radar)
• USAR search cameras.

These three technologies complement each other and allow rescue teams to go faster.

Life detectors with seismic sensors (seismic/acoustic listening technology) – search

Seismic detectors (also called listening device) are designed to detect and locate the position of conscious buried survivors under the rubble following a collapse.

Ultra-sensitive, seismic sensors use seismic technology to detect the smallest sounds/vibrations caused by survivors buried under rubble (scratching, hitting, shouting, etc.) and help pinpoint their location.

What is seismic technology?

Seismic detectors, like a wave receiver, sense vibrations that resonate and circulate in the different materials of the collapsed building and amplify them via a control box.

The technical search specialist can ‘listen’ via audio headsets and ‘view’ the audio signal via a bar graph on the control box for vibrations made by victims under the rubble.

Life detectors with UWB radar (UWB technology) – scan

One of the latest innovations in terms of victim location equipment is the UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) radar detector (also called GPR – Ground Penetrating Radar). This radar detector is designed to detect and locate the position of entombed victims following a collapse. It uses the Ultra-Wide Band technology (highly sensitive stabilized band) to detect the movements of a buried victim. It can detect the smallest movements – even the breathing of an unconscious person!

What is UWB technology?

UWB is a radio modulation technique based on the transmission of very short impulses.

The UWB sensor is a transmitting/receiving device with an ultra-sensitive sensor producing electromagnetic waves that can pass through construction materials.

It can scan/probe through 50cm of dense concrete or any other construction material such as bricks, asphalt, sand, wood, tiles, plastic, plaster and glass (note that electromagnetic waves cannot pass through metal surfaces, damp surfaces such as clay, or water) and can detect the movement of buried victims.

Search cameras – CAM / TIC / RD90

Once the survivor is detected and located, a second step involves visually verifying that it is a human with search camera. Equipped with a microphone/speaker module, it can also be used to communicate with the person to determine their assistance needs.

What is a search camera?

A victim search camera is a miniature camera (47mm in diameter for LEADER models) designed to slide into very narrow spaces such as cracks, gaps and standard 51mm holes drilled by USAR teams to inspect behind a wall or inside a confined space.

The USAR search camera is connected to a control box with an extra-large colour screen to inspect the area/confined space and identify potential survivors.

The leader Multisearch: 5 in 1 multifunctional usar system

For over 20 years, LEADER has designed cutting-edge USAR equipment to help Search and Rescue teams to rescue entombed victims even more quickly and efficiently!

LEADER is the only manufacturer to offer a complete range of USAR equipment using all the technologies commonly used in USAR operations!

The life detector LEADER MULTISEARCH is the only USAR system to combine up to five peripherals on the same control box:

• VICTIM LOCATION / DETECTION:
  • Peripheral SEARCH: seismic sensors to listen sounds/vibrations of entombed victims,
  • Peripheral SCAN: UWB rescue radar to detect the movements of buried victims, whether conscious or unconscious.
• VISUAL LOCATION + COMMUNICATION:
  • Peripheral CAM: USAR colour search camera to locate victims and communicate with them,
  • Peripheral TIC: USAR thermal imaging search camera to locate victims through a visual search for hotspots in rubble in very dark, dusty, smoky environments, etc.
  • Peripheral RD90: USAR waterproof search camera to locate victims in very damp environments or underwater to a depth of 90m or 180m

The MULTI-APP box is the heart of the LEADER MULTISEARCH (or MS) system. Depending on operational needs in the field, it is used to connect up to five interchangeable peripherals in turn (CAM, TIC, RD90, SEARCH, SCAN) in order to allow rescuers to be ever more efficient and to go ever faster in the search for buried victims!

Thousands of LEADER devices are used by an extensive number of Search and Rescue (SAR) teams worldwide (INSARAG, SUSAR, etc.). These robust and effective devices are tried-and-tested around the world and have continued to prove themselves recently during the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

For more information, go to: www.leader-group.company