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Search and Rescue: Emerging technologies for the Early location of Entrapped victims under Collapsed Structures and Advanced Wearables for risk assessment and First Responders Safety in SAR operations

Project description

A European vision for disaster management systems

After an earthquake, an industrial chemical release or a building’s collapse, a timely and effective response is crucial and can prevent or significantly reduce the risk of casualties. This is why first responders and rescue teams need to be equipped with cutting edge tools and specialised instruments in order to enhance their capabilities in terms of accuracy, quick localisation, and reduction of false alarms. Through a series of large-scale pilot scenarios, the EU-funded Search and Rescue project will design, implement and test a highly interoperable open architecture platform for first responders, including advanced frontend equipment systems and backend applications, improving the decision-making of first responders and providing a dynamic common operational picture of the crisis.

Objective

Apart from earthquakes that usually result to catastrophic structural collapses, with many people entrapped or killed (e.g. Indonesia 2018, Japan 2011, Haiti 2010, Italy 2009, Greece 1999), there are also other causes that may result into a building’s collapse, such as an accidental explosion or a terrorist attack (e.g. 9/11) in public areas or critical infrastructures (airports etc.). Moreover, natural disasters like earthquakes may trigger technological disasters, such as industrial chemical release or even fires; this dynamic or “domino effect”, as it is called may pose tremendous risks to the countries and communities and hence it is a great challenge to cope with by the first responders and relevant organizations of civil protection.
First responders and rescuers need specialized instrumentations, available to all times, easily accessible that meet stringent requirements in terms of detection accuracy, quick localization, and reduction of false alarms.
The S&R project will design, implement and test through a series of large scale pilot scenarios a highly interoperable, modular open architecture platform for first responders’ capitalising on expertise and technological infrastructure from both COncORDE and IMPRESS FP7 projects. The governance model of S&R will be designed to operate more effectively and its architectural structure will allow to easily incorporate next generation R&D and COTS solutions which will be possibly adopted in the future disaster management systems. The Model will also support a unified vision of the EU role and will provide a common framework to assess needs and integrate responses. The framework will enable supportive approach using a wider range of decisional support features and monitoring systems and will also give to first responders an effective and unified vision of (a) the dynamic changes going on during event’s lifetime and (b) the capabilities and resources currently deployed in the field.

Call for proposal

H2020-SU-SEC-2018-2019-2020

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Sub call

H2020-SU-SEC-2019

Coordinator

ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION
Net EU contribution
€ 478 437,50
Address
HEROON POLYTECHNIOU 9 ZOGRAPHOU CAMPUS
157 80 ATHINA
Greece

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Region
Αττική Aττική Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 478 437,50

Participants (29)