An auxiliary framework to facilitate earthquake search and rescue operations in urban regions

Here, we propose an auxiliary earthquake emergency framework to facilitate a post-earthquake rapid response. Searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings is essentially a race against time, as time is highly correlated with the chances of trapped victims surviving. The framework here is centered on full GIS integration and smartwatch (SW) for transferring victims’ vital data for search and rescue (SAR) operations considering the damage to the road network due to direct earthquake implications. The framework has two parts time-wise: pre- and post-earthquake. The first part assesses the initial situation under different earthquake scenarios, which calculates service areas for emergency rescue centers under different earthquake scenarios considering road blockages. Following an earthquake, the second part prioritizes victims and identifies critical rescue areas using an SW and initial assessments. The victims’ accessibility, health condition, and injury risk are the criteria used to determine victims’ rescue priority. The developed framework is then employed in an urban region for different earthquake scenarios. From a road blockage point of view, the critical areas are then recognized. The framework relies on GIS and SW technology for data transfer, but potential failures and challenges in post-earthquake scenarios, data availability, quality, timeliness, and ethical considerations like equity, cultural sensitivities, and privacy need to be addressed. Considering the golden rescue time, by integrating the latest technologies into management applications, the study’s results can help emergency first responders make rapid and efficient decisions and better allocate medical and rescue resources just after an earthquake, reducing earthquake losses and saving more human lives. Moreover, it can provide insight into the initial road network situation following different earthquake scenarios for first responders to estimate the road network’s initial situation; thus, they can operate better in real emergencies.