main-logo
  • Fire, Water & Mold
    • Fire & Water Damage
    • Drying & Dehumidification
    • HVAC Decontamination
    • What is Black Mold?
    • Insurance Restoration
  • Commercial
    • COVID-19 Cleaning & Decontamination Services
    • Commercial Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
    • Commercial Water Damage Restoration
    • Document & Media Recovery
    • Commercial Mold Remediation
    • Commercial Cleaning Services
    • Priority Disaster Response Program
  • Residential
    • Residential Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
    • Residential Water Damage Restoration
    • Residential Mold Remediation
  • Construction
    • Residential Construction
    • Commercial Construction
    • Multi-Family Construction
    • Controlled Demolitions
  • Disasters
    • Residential Disaster Recovery
    • Commercial Disaster Recovery
    • Emergency Repairs
    • Storm Damage Repairs
    • Natural Disasters
    • Biohazard Cleanup
    • Personal Effects Recovery
    • Aviation & Transportation Incidents
  • About Us
    • Careers
    • Our Reviews
    • Our History
    • Our Clients
    • Resources
    • Blog
    • Business Opportunities
    • Contact Us
×
  • Fire, Water & Mold
    • Fire & Water Damage
    • Drying & Dehumidification
    • HVAC Decontamination
    • What is Black Mold?
    • Insurance Restoration
  • Commercial
    • COVID-19 Cleaning & Decontamination Services
    • Commercial Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
    • Commercial Water Damage Restoration
    • Document & Media Recovery
    • Commercial Mold Remediation
    • Commercial Cleaning Services
    • Priority Disaster Response Program
  • Residential
    • Residential Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
    • Residential Water Damage Restoration
    • Residential Mold Remediation
  • Construction
    • Residential Construction
    • Commercial Construction
    • Multi-Family Construction
    • Controlled Demolitions
  • Disasters
    • Residential Disaster Recovery
    • Commercial Disaster Recovery
    • Emergency Repairs
    • Storm Damage Repairs
    • Natural Disasters
    • Biohazard Cleanup
    • Personal Effects Recovery
    • Aviation & Transportation Incidents
  • About Us
    • Careers
    • Our Reviews
    • Our History
    • Our Clients
    • Resources
    • Blog
    • Business Opportunities
    • Contact Us
24-Hour Response
877-899-0676
24-Hour Response
877-899-0676

The Advantages of Drones: How Drones are Used in Disaster Relief

Home / Disaster Recovery / The Advantages of Drones: How Drones are Used in Disaster Relief

The Advantages of Drones: How Drones are Used in Disaster Relief

October 17, 2018

How Drones are Used in Disaster Relief Efforts

There are countless advantages of drones. One of the most useful advantages is in disaster relief efforts. Here are some ways that drones are used in disasters and other catastrophes.

drones in disastersDrones — they’re probably the most controversial piece of technology to take the stage in the past few years. It seems like every other day, we see a news report about something a drone did, followed by a ten-minute argument about whether it’s justified or not.

However, did you know that drones are used for a lot of humanitarian work? In particular, drones have proven to be a very effective tool when it comes to disaster relief.

We’ll go into more detail about the advantages of drones in relation to disaster recovery efforts below.

Search and Rescue

Though not technically capable of rescuing people, drones are being used to locate people in need of rescue and evacuation. In the experiments conducted thus far, drones have noticeably outperformed humans at finding people in need of assistance.

A large part of this is likely due to the fact that drones are much smaller than the average person, thus can fit into much smaller places than humans can. Additionally, drones have cameras attached to them, which means that certain factors, such as smoke, are not an issue.

Furthermore, the fact that drones can fly makes it easier to locate people at higher altitudes, like those taking shelter on rooftops.

Supply Drop

Another way drones are used is for supply drops. In various disasters, both natural and man-made, drones are used to deliver much-needed supplies to areas that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Part of what’s interesting about this is the sheer scope of it. Not only do civilian authorities benefit from having drones at their disposal, but so does the military. Being able to use drones to transport supplies means that human lives no longer have to be risked traveling dangerous routes to reach soldiers in the field.

So far, these supply drops have included everything from food and water to life jackets. Drones are even used to temporarily restore cell phone service to areas that experience outages.

Fire Fighting

It turns out that drones also make pretty decent firefighters.

Due to human pilot error, planes and helicopters can’t fly in all conditions. In theory, you could have a situation where particularly thick smoke or bright lights might make a drone’s camera basically useless.

This obstacle has not slipped by the drone manufacturers, though. Emergency drones now have infrared cameras on them, allowing them to see heat signatures, which means that thick smoke is no longer a problem. The wildfires themselves, which burn over 1,000 degrees, may interfere, but we’re off to a good start.

The biggest advantage is that drones can’t die. Sadly, about a quarter of firefighter deaths were due to planes and helicopters crashing (from 2006 to 2016). If this statistic is anywhere near the average, then drones have the potential to save a lot of lives.

A drone would eliminate this problem.

Drones are also a lot cheaper than helicopters, at least five times cheaper, in fact. Given all that drones are capable of, this will prove to be a more cost-effective method.

So, how exactly do drones help with wildfires? It turns out they can be equipped to carry water buckets.

How? It’s hard to tell, even looking at pictures – but it appears they are holding the buckets underneath them.

Enhanced Detection

Not only can drones see in infrared, but they have other enhanced “senses” as well. Drones are capable of picking up sounds, as well as images, which could help in emergency situations.

They also work as functional chemical and radiation detectors. This means that meltdowns like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima will be far more manageable should they ever happen again.

Maps and Predictions

One of the most valuables resources you can have, especially in an emergency situation, is information. Drones excel in this aspect. Their flights have been used to map paths through disaster areas, as well as calculate the true extent of the damage.

An added benefit of mapping damage is predicting further damage. The best example for this is flooding. By mapping out the areas that have been flooded, officials can better understand why the flooding is occurring, how much damage the flood is likely to cause, and what areas, if any, are likely to flood next.

This particular ability has proven to be valuable over the past few years, as hurricanes like Irma, Harvey, and Michael have struck the United States. If the rate of hurricane activity continues like we are currently seeing, drones will remain helpful in disaster recovery efforts moving forward.

Drones can do more than just predict the extent of disasters that are already happening. They might be able to alert or point us towards disasters that have yet to happen.

Four colleges are attempting to use drones to analyze super-cells — a form of storm that often turns into a tornado — and predict if a tornado will form, and how severe it will be.

The Advantages of Drones in Relation to Disasters

The advantages of drones are showing to be quite extensive, particularly when it comes to disasters. Already, they’ve been used to transport supplies, find survivors, assess and track damage, and a host of other things as well.

Time will tell how useful drones will be in future disasters, but they’re off to a great start so far.

If you want to learn more about our disaster recovery services, please visit our site.

Filed Under: Disaster Recovery

Search

Subscribe to our Blog

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Categories

  • Air Duct Cleaning
  • Carpet Cleaning
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Document Recovery
  • Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration
  • Helpful Tips
  • Insurance
  • Mold Remediation
  • News & Press
  • Reconstruction
  • Restoration
  • Social Media
  • Tile & Grout Cleaning
  • Transportation
  • Upholstery & Furniture Cleaning
  • Water Damage Restoration
  • White Papers

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015

We Service Your Area

  • Atlanta

  • Austin

  • Bonita-Springs

  • Boston

  • Charlotte

  • Chicago

  • Cleveland

  • College Station

  • Columbus

  • Dallas

  • Detroit

  • Fort Worth

  • Houston

  • Los Angeles

  • Marco Island

  • Miami

  • Nashville

  • New Jersey

  • New York

  • Oklahoma City

  • Orlando

  • Petoskey

  • Pittsburgh

  • Port Huron

  • San Antonio

  • San Francisco

  • Tulsa

  • Vero Beach

  • Washington D.C.

  • See All Locations

We Service Your Area

  • Atlanta

  • Austin

  • Bonita-Springs

  • Boston

  • Charlotte

  • Miami

  • Nashville

  • New Jersey

  • New York

  • Oklahoma City

  • Chicago

  • Cleveland

  • College Station

  • Columbus

  • Dallas

  • Orlando

  • Petoskey

  • Pittsburgh

  • Port Huron

  • San Antonio

  • Detroit

  • Fort Worth

  • Houston

  • Los Angeles

  • Marco Island

  • San Francisco

  • Tulsa

  • Vero Beach

  • Washington D.C.

  • See All Locations

  • Fire, Water & Mold
  • Commercial
  • Residential
  • Construction
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Disasters
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map
  • CE Courses

Corporate Headquarters
5718 Airport Freeway
Haltom City, TX, 76117

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • rss
  • youtube

Copyright © 2020 - All rights reserved.


Digital Marketing by thriveagency