WO2019086930A1

WO2019086930A1 - Method to assist in the location and rescue of victims after an earthquake, terrorist attack or other emergencies

Info

Publication number: WO2019086930A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/056767
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlos Moises HERNANDEZ SUAREZ
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-10-31
Filing date: 2017-10-31
Publication date: 2019-05-09
Anticipated expiration: 2020-04-30

Abstract

A method is described to provide support information to the location and rescue services operating after the collapse of one or more buildings, that are attempting to locate and rescue victims of the collapse. This support information includes at least: number of persons in the building when the disaster occurred that have not been located and confirmed being out of the building and optionally contact information of those individuals as any relevant medical information that may be helpful for their recovery, as blood type and allergies to medication. This support information seeks to optimize human resources and equipment dedicated to the different collapsed buildings an alleviate tension among the population. The system is easy to implement since it relies mostly in mobile devices and ID's installed in buildings and do not require specialized reading devices or electronic tokens for the users to wear continuously. The system can also be applied in the case a building must be evacuated and a list of individuals that have not evacuated the building is useful.

Description

METHOD TO ASSIST IN THE LOCATION AND RESCUE OF VICTIMS AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE, TERRORIST ATTACK OR OTHER EMERGENCIES

The present invention relates to information technology as applied to building a list of individuals that may need to be rescued after a building or similar facility collapses or must be evacuated to optimize human resources and effort.

US20150051931 A1, US9478120, US5982281, US7123141, US5396227, US5461390, US20150084757A1, US20070299473A1, US5731757, KR101523704B1, CN205405846U, KR1020070119446A, US7403112. KR101377184B1, KR1020140092623A

After one or more buildings collapse, due for instance to an earthquake, accidental or intentional activities as in a terrorist attack, location and rescue organisms face the problem of not having a list of individuals that must be rescued from the rubble. This also apply to the situation in which a building must be evacuated and the list of persons that have not been evacuated the building is not known. This lack of information does impede the optimization and organization of rescue resources and activities, especially when the resources are limited and the number of collapsed buildings is large, as it occurs during earthquakes. By providing buildings of interest with unique ID’s that can be read with a mobile device, individuals entering those buildings can inform a centralized information system of their location in the event of the building’s collapse, information which may be useful to location and rescue services. This invention also explains variations to be used in the event that individuals do not carry a mobile device when entering the premises. If enough information is fed, the invention may provide with preparations for the victims’ medical attention (for instance, blood type, medicine allergies or contact information).

When buildings collapse (due to earthquakes or accidental or intentional activities such as in terrorist attacks, for instance) location and rescue services usually face the problem of not knowing the identity or even the number of individuals that need to be rescued from the rubble. These location and rescue services may find information regarding the number of persons that were inside the building at the time of its collapse extremely useful, this is because the number of collapsed buildings may be large (which is especially true during large earthquakes) and task force and resources must be optimized. The same applies in then situation a building must be evacuated and the list of persons that have been evacuated is not known.

Most of the time cellular telephone services recover quickly after an earthquake and could ideally be used for identification and rescue purposes. However, victim’s mobile devices may often be damaged or otherwise useless, or victims may be, for several reasons, be incapable of using the device (this may occur, for instance, when a victim is unconscious or far from the devices at the time of the collapse) and, therefore, it may be impossible for those affected to use mobile devices to report their status as victims. GPS device location is many times impossible to rely on due to poor coordinate fixation among a rubble and, in many cases, cellular phones are not allowed to be active when entering a building (as is the case, for example, in schools and other private or official buildings). This is especially an issue since even a position fix error of only a few meters may provide erroneous information on the building in which a victim is waiting for help.

Many times, location and rescue services must guide their efforts based on unreliable information, such as neighbors or other building occupants, and in many occasions, these services spent hours or days searching for persons that were not in a building at the time of its collapse or even searching for persons that didn’t exist.

This problem of victim identification or counting among the rubble exists even in buildings that have a traditional list of occupants, such as factories and schools, because most of the times the databases or physical lists of persons are kept inside the building, and list recovery may be impossible. In addition, looking for secondary sources or copies of the list (like official list of employees in factories or students in schools) may take long, especially when most internet communication servers are connected through networks that may be down. In addition, this list may not exist in premises that admit many temporary occupants, as in hotels, restaurants, libraries or other public or private offices, etc.

In addition, when victims are located and are found wounded or cannot communicate, it is of the upmost importance to locate their relatives or other contacts. If they are alive, it is extremely useful to gather any information to support their recovery (for instance, blood type, medication allergies, current affections, or any other information regarding hospitalization and treatment). Nevertheless, especially in developing countries, this information is not commonly located in one place and its access is limited.

Moreover, location and rescue services may benefit from knowing the approximate location of an individual within a building when planning a rescue activity (for example, knowing whether an individual declared as their last position a conference room on the 4^th floor or the basement may be useful).

Although it is true that friends or relatives of possible victims may attempt to contact them through cellular devices and, thus, may be able to determine if they are not among the victims of a disaster, in the case that it is not possible to contact an individual it may also be impossible to know where we should be looking for this person, which complicates matters for location and rescue services. Moreover, the information obtained by thousands of individuals looking for missing persons in this way is disaggregated and not organized in a single body of information available to the location and rescue services.

US 20150051931 A1 describes a method and that can be used to locate assets like individuals or objects for the purpose of efficient management. According to US 20150051931 A1, assets and locations must have a visible identifier and a suggestion is made on how to gather information on the location of an asset such as, for instance, whether an asset is inside the premises or not. This requires first that a centralized entity provides assets and locations with visible identifiers, for instance, an enterprise can provide buildings with tag readers and provide vehicles and human resources with electronic tags that can be read when entering, leaving or moving through the premises. In general, human resources working in the premises or even visitors can be forced to wear such electronic tag as a condition to work or visit the premises.

US patent 9478120 describes a method for monitoring the evacuation of a facility. This method requires distributing ID’s to users entering the facility which are monitored when users enter or leave the premises using, for instance, electronic card readers. The issue with this method is that it requires hardware to be installed in the entrance and exit points of a building when individuals enter or leave the facilities, and users must be provided with electronic tags.

The method described in US 9478120 is very restrictive in many situations, especially in situations involving individuals that are not considered assets and therefore cannot be forced to wear an ID arguing, perhaps, privacy issues. For instance, suppose that we want to assist rescue services in a large city locate persons among the rubble in the event one or more buildings collapse due to natural or manmade causes. In this situation, while government authorities may have previously enforced the use of ID’s to uniquely identify public or private buildings as hospitals, hotels, libraries etc., requiring a city’s entire population to acquire and wear an ID so that we may determine their presence or absence in one of those collapsed buildings is very difficult to enforce. Thus, any measure that views the whole population of individuals as assets will face resistance for practical reasons. Additionally, in practice, it is very difficult and costly to install readers in the entrances and exits of every building.

Other methods suggested also require the individuals to be located to wear a tag or a transmitter in order to be able to locate them, as in US5982281, US7123141, US5396227, US5461390, US20150084757A1, US20070299473A1, US5731757, KR101523704B1, CN205405846U, KR1020070119446A, US7403112. KR101377184B1 and KR1020140092623A.

In this document, we provide a method that can improve the degree of preparedness and attention of location and rescue services to the problems outlined that does not require the use of electronic tags by individuals nor the installation of tag readers in every building. This method can be implemented in large cities relatively quickly and at a low cost.

Resiliency is a major directive in many cities. The invention described here contributes greatly to the sense of security of the inhabitants of a city, by providing a feeling that their recovery in the event of an earthquake is less dependent on chance.

To better explain the method presented here, we will use the following terms and acronyms as described:

System: the set of databases, computers, and software that operate and interact according to the invention presented here.

ID: identification. This may be a code or image that is assigned uniquely to an individual or a device.

User: an individual that uses the system indicated in .

QR: acronym for Quick Response, which is an ID that can be read using optical devices.

Status of a user: for the purposes of the method introduced here, refers to a user being inside or outside of a building.

shows a diagram of the procedures for uploading information to the system. Flowcharts 1.a and 1.b illustrate the procedure to upload user information and 1.c to upload information on a building.

shows a sample database where the association between mobile devices and their owners can be seen. The amount of information associated with each owner must contain their phone number or electronic mail, in order for the system to be able to contact them in case it is necessary, and may also contain one or more of the following fields: IMEI of the device, name of the user, address, contact information, blood type, medical allergies, etc. The user choses as primary contact a telephone number or e-mail, and the remaining information is optional. Figure 2.a shows a user that has only registered the telephone number of a mobile device without giving a name, whereas 2.b, 2.c, 2.d and 2.e show examples of users that disclosed additional information.

shows a sample association between ID’s represented here by QR’s that are placed in the buildings and their location as recorded in a database. The database contains information associated with the building that may be useful for locating the victim more accurately (e.g., blueprints) or for providing warnings to be considered at the time of a rescue attempt, for instance, the presence of electronic or chemical hazards. It may also contain information on the owners or persons in charge of the building. This figure shows how different QR’s are associated with different records in the database as depicted in QR’s 3.a, 3.b, 3.c, 3.d and 3.e. When a user enters a building, and reads a specific QR code, the system is immediately informed of the location of the user and can report this, if asked by the administrator, to location and rescue services along with other info that may be useful in the rescue/recovery of a victim.

shows an example database where current location, as declared by users, is administered by the system. Column 4.a contains information on user ID whereas column 4.b contains information on the building in which a user is located. For instance, Figure 4.c shows a group of users that are in a building with ID 616044677, while Figure 4.d shows another group of users located inside a building with ID 473288849.

shows a diagram of the procedure after buildings have collapsed. Flowchart 5.a depicts the process followed for the administrator to request the system to update the information on users’ status and to release this information to authorized users, while 5.b depicts the procedure followed by the system for releasing information to those authorized users.

shows an exemplary screenshot of the application running on a mobile device that location and rescue services can use for locating individuals.

shows a general description of the system. FIG. 7.a shows a building with an ID represented by a QR code located at the entrance of the building (icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com) Figures. 7.b and 7.c point to other QR’s located inside the building. Figure 7.d shows a mobile device reading the QR code and transmitting information to a server pictured in Figure 7.e. The information transmitted includes information on the device that made the reading and information contained in the QR code so that the match between users and buildings is made as depicted in Figure 4.

shows an exemplary application screenshot displayed in the mobile device after reading the QR code associated with a location in the building. FIG. 8.a shows an exemplary screenshot of the application asking the individual to confirm entering the building, whereas FIG. 8.b request information on the number of companions in the event, for instance, there are children or other persons without a cell phone or elderly that have may have difficulties informing the system, for instance, due to being incapacitated.

shows sample screens on the mobile device. Figure 9.a shows an exemplary screenshot of the application requesting an update on the status of the individual at some time of entering the building whereas figure 9.b shows an exemplary screenshot of the application requesting information on the status and location of an individual appearing after the building´s collapse.

For the method to work, is necessary to perform two major types of activities: pre-event activities and post-event activities.

There are two pre-event activities: the uploading of information regarding individuals and the uploading of information regarding buildings to the system.

There are three post-event activities: the activation of the system, the request of information from the system by authorized users, and the update of the system.

We now describe each stage of the pre-event activities in detail.

The uploading of information regarding individuals is depicted in 1.a and 1.b Figure 1.a shows how to input information from a mobile device and 1.b shows how to input information by using a website. When installing the application or when accessing a website, the user has a choice of how much information to release, and the selected information is sent to the system. The information recorded about a user will require at least the necessary information for the system to contact the user, for instance, his/her telephone number, electronic mail, etc. Additional information may be for instance, one or more of the following characteristics: IMEI of the device, name of the user, address, contact information, blood type, medical allergies, etc. The upload of information is complemented by an individual alerting the system that she/he has entered a building, which is made by reading one of the ID’s of the building. Ideally, the system must be informed that the individual has left the building.

The uploading of information regarding buildings is depicted in 1.c, and consists of uploading information to the system using a variety of means (e.g., through a website) where the information consists for instance, of a building name, address, coordinates, the name of a responsible person, related contacts, blue prints and other characteristics of the building.

A sample database illustrating the information stored in the system regarding users is depicted in figure 2. In 2.a it can be seen a user that only registered a telephone number of a mobile device without including the user’s name, whereas 2.b, 2.c, 2.d and 2.e show examples of users that registered additional information.

A sample database illustrating the information stored in the system regarding buildings is depicted in figure 3. This figure shows how different QR’s are associated with different records in the database as depicted in QR’s 3.a, 3.b, 3.c, 3.d and 3.e, whereas Figure 4 shows how the system associates users to the buildings they reported to be inside.

We now describe each stage of the post-event activities in detail.

The activation of the system is depicted in figure 5.a, and consists of an administrator instructing the system to start sending inquiries to those individuals that have not reported exiting a building that they previously indicated having entered, and may therefore be in need for help. The inquiry may be by means of an electronic message, a direct call, an electronic mail, or by instructing the application in the user’s mobile device to request the user to update her/his status. If the user cannot be contacted directly, the system could try to locate the user’s contacts in an attempt to determine the user’s status.

The request for information from the system is illustrated in figure 5.b, where the system first verifies that the request is made by an authorized user before releasing information. The request for information can only be made after the system is activated.

The update to the system is shown in Figure 6, where location and rescue services can obtain information on the number of people that remain to be found, and can also modify this information by providing the system with their own updates on people found and their health status (this could be done, for instance, through the application as illustrated in Figure 6.a).

Having described the main elements of the system, we now detail one of more possible embodiments of its functioning.

First, a scalable database with information on individuals must be constructed. The database for users is constructed by users downloading an application to a mobile device or by accessing a web page where they input the information. At the time of installation, the user must accept to provide a way for the system to communicate with the user in case certain event occurs. This is ideally the phone number (an alternative is an electronic e-mail). The application will ask the user to provide, optionally, additional information (e.g., full name, contacts, blood type, medical allergies, etc.) that may be useful in case certain event occurs and the user needs help. Figure 2 shows an example of a database showing information on several users, where different users have chosen to provide different degrees of information.

At the same time, a scalable database with information on buildings must be constructed. This database can be built, for instance, through a website that connects to the system, where an authorized user uploads information relevant to a building, such as their name, address, location, etc. This database may also contain links to additional information, for instance blue prints, that may be useful to location and rescue services. The system will generate ID’s to be printed and installed in different parts of the building, so that the users can read them with their mobile devices. The generated ID’s can be unique for the entire building or may be specific to different parts of the building (for instance the ID’s could be unique to every floor, conference rooms, etc.). Figure 7 shows a building where ID’s indicated in 7.a, 7.b and 7.c have been placed in different places within the building. This information may be useful to location and rescue services in case of an event. Figure 3 is a sample database where the information from several buildings and their associated ID’s is contained, and Figure 4 shows an example of how the system stores the current locations of users.

When individuals enter a building, they read the ID to indicate the system that they are inside the facilities using a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone). For instance, by reading a QR code located in the lobby of a hotel, as it is depicted in figure 7.d. If they wish, they can also read other QR’s that could be in the specific floor they are located or even inside the room. These ID’s provide more detailed information to location and rescue services in case of an event. The application in the mobile device can ask the user for confirmation of its location as in figure 8.a At this moment, the application may ask also for the user for the number of companions in case the user enters the building with individuals that do not possess a mobile device or cannot use it, for instance, children, elderly or incapacitated, etc., as depicted in figure 8.b

Ideally, when individuals leave the facility, they should declare that to the system, by informing the application of such event. Still, from time to time, if the user wishes to do so, the application may remember the user to provide an update of his/her status, as it is illustrated in figure 9.a

The system associates users to buildings according to the information provided by the users. But it does not release it under no circumstance, unless requested by an administrator. In case there is an event, the administrator of the system allows the system to release the information as depicted in figure 5.a to the authorized users, for instance, location and rescue services, who may ask for specific information of a buildings as depicted in flowchart in figure 5.b

After the system is authorized and location and rescue services have access to information, these services may get updates in real time through, for instance, mobile devices, as depicted in figure 6, and can also update the system if new people is being located as indicated in figure 6.a

When the system is activated, it automatically attempts to update information on the number of users that may be inside a building. This may be done by, for instance, sending an automatic phone call, an electronic message or the like to the users that declared entering a building and have not declared leaving the building. The system updates the information accordingly, in real time, with the information provided by users and location and rescue services. This will update the information mainly based on individuals that entered the building and have not declared exiting the building, either because they are still within the premises or because they left the building without warning the system they did so.

When individuals can not register their entrance to a building because they do not possess or are not allowed to carry or activate a mobile device, they may be provided with a personal ID code and an inform of their entrance by making a device in the building to read their ID. For instance, students may bring an ID with a QR code and authorities or personnel from the school can read the code with a mobile device. The individual ID is obtained when users upload their information to the system through a web site, as described in .

In case the system cannot contact the users directly because they did not use a mobile device to declare being inside a building, as mentioned in , the system will try to contact the users’ contacts instead.

The described embodiments - can be applied in the case the building has not collapsed, but must be evacuated for instance, due to fire, gas leaks, chemical hazard or other issues, and it is important to have a quick account of individuals that have not evacuated the building.

During the last earthquake in Mexico city, many human resources and equipment was invested in buildings withouth knowing the number of people trapped inside or their contacts. Rescue efforts was assigned mostly using information provided by neighbours or inhabitants of the collapsed building, and in many occasions a lot of effort was invested in attempting to rescue non existant people. Knowing the number and identity of persons trapped in a collapsed building could optimize rescue efforts and reduce uncertainty to those related to them, as friends or relatives. If this method had been available and in use iin 9/11, the number of victims in the collapsed buildings would have been quickly available to authorities.

The present invention has industrial applicability, as it is extremely helpful to optimize the rescue of persons that may need assistance. Spending human resources and equipment in a location to try to rescue a person that is not in the rubble of a collapsed building and is perhaps inexistent or perhaps already been rescued and safe or recovering in another place, has a high cost. Also, suspending the search of persons among the rubble because no one knows that there were more people that needed to be rescued is equally costly. This also applies to the situation in which a building must be evacuated and it is not known if there are people inside the building.

Patent Literature

US20150051931 A1

US9478120

US5982281

US7123141

US5396227

US5461390

US20150084757A1

US20070299473A1

US5731757

KR101523704B1

CN205405846U

KR1020070119446A

US7403112

KR101377184B1

KR1020140092623A

Non Patent Literature

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/21/americas/mexico-earthquake/index.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/21/mexico-city-earthquake-rescuers-desperate-search-save-young/

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/9/19/16335714/mexico-city-earthquake-7-1-puebla-mexico

Claims

A method to assist authorities in the location and rescue of persons that may be trapped in a collapsed building or remain inside a building that must be evacuated, based on providing buildings with unique ID’s that users read with a mobile device to report their location to a centralized system. The method comprising:
constructing a database where information related with the location of each ID is recorded, for instance, building name, coordinates, address or the like;

when a user reads the ID of a building using a mobile device, a system is informed of this and then the ID of the mobile device is associated with the ID of the building, and this association user-location is recorded in a database;

when a disaster occurs and a building collapses, the system attempts to contact all users that declared entering the building that collapsed or that must be evacuated;

the users reporting back to the system on their status;

the system informing authorities on those individuals that were located inside the building at the time of its collapse and have not responded to the request of information by the system.
A method as the described in , in which additional ID’s are placed in different locations inside the building, so that the system has more precise information where the user is located, for instance, basement, lobby, a conference room, a specific floor or the like.
A method as the described in , in which the information on location and characteristics of the building or a location within the building is done by uploading the information through a website by those responsible for the buildings.
A method as the described in , in which the ID generated for every building or a location within it is provided to the responsible of the building for printing and displaying in the building.
A method as the described in , in which the notification of entrance to a building by a user is performed by using a mobile device to read a QR code located at the entrance or in a location inside the building.
A method as the described in , in which the notification of entering or leaving a building is performed by using a mobile device to read a QR code located to the entrance or inside the building and an application in a mobile device asking the user if the user is entering or leaving the building.
A method as the described in , in which an application in a mobile device asks the user to update the user’s status.
A method as described in , in which an individual uses an application in a mobile device to provide information to the system on how the system can contact him/her.
A method as described in , in which an individual uses a web page to provide information to the system on how the system can contact her/him.
A method as described in , in which the information provided by a user to the system contains at least the telephone number of the user.
A method as described in , in which the information provided by a user to the system contains at least the e-mail of the user.
A method as described in , in which the information provided by a user to the system contains additional information that may be useful to location and rescue services, as contact info, address, blood type, medical allergies and other information on the user that location and rescue services may find useful for the location or attention of a rescued individual.
A method as the described in , in which the system attempts to contact all users that informed entering a building after the administrator of the system allows the system to perform such action.
A method as described in , in which the system updates the status of the users by sending a message to the user through a mobile.
A method as described in , in which the system updates the status of the users by sending a message through e-mail.
A method as described in , in which the system updates the status of the users by inquiring the user’s contacts through a telephone call or e-mail or other means of electronic messaging trough desktop or mobile devices.
A method as the described in , in which an administrator allows to release the information regarding user’s locations and status to authorized location and rescue services.
A method as the described in , in which the information released is sent to the location and rescue services through mobile devices.
A method as the described in , where the information provided to location and rescue services contains the number of persons that declared entering the building and have not confirmed to be outside the building.
A method as the described in , where the information provided to location and rescue services contains information on characteristics of the building.
A method to assist authorities in the location and rescue of persons that may be trapped in a collapsed building or remain inside a building that must be evacuated, based on providing users with unique ID’s that are read by an ID reader inside a building to report their location to a centralized system. The method comprising:
Constructing a database with a location of ID readers;

the user entering a building and showing their unique ID to the ID reader;

the reader informing the system of the ID that has been read;

constructing a database where each user’s ID that has been read is associated with information where the reader is located, and this association user-reader location is recorded in a database;

when a disaster occurs and a building collapses or must be evacuated, the system attempts to contact all users that declared entering the building that collapsed or must be evacuated;

when the system’s request for information is received by the users, they report back to the system on their status;

the system informing authorities on those individuals that that were located inside the building at the time of its collapse or evacuation and have not responded to the request of information by the system.
A method as the described in , in which the information on location and characteristics of the building or a location within the building is done by uploading the information through a website by those responsible for the buildings.
A method as described in , in which an individual provides information to the system on how the system can contact the him/her, by using an application in a mobile device.
A method as described in , in which an individual provides information to the system on how the system can contact the him/her, by using a web page.
A method as described in , in which the information provided to the system contains at least the telephone number of the user.
A method as described in , in which the information provided to the system contains at least the e-mail of the user
A method as described in , in which the information provided to the system contains additional information that may be useful to location and rescue services, as contact info, address, blood type, medical allergies and other information on the user that location and rescue services may find useful for the location or attention of a rescued individual.
A method as the described in , in which the system attempts to contact all users after the administrator of the system allows the system to perform such action.
A method as described in , in which the system updates the status of the users by sending them a message through a mobile application and asking them to update their status.
A method as described in , in which the centralized server updates the status of the users by sending them a message through e-mail and asking them to update their status.
A method as described in , in which the centralized server updates the status of the users by inquiring the user’s contacts through a telephone call or e-mail or other means of electronic messaging trough desktop or mobile devices.
A method as the described in , in which an administrator allows to release the information regarding user’s locations to authorized location and rescue services.
A method as the described in , in which the information released is sent to the location and rescue services through mobile devices.
A method as the described in , where the information provided to location and rescue services contains the number of persons that declared entering the building and have not confirmed to be outside the building.
A method as the described in , where the information provided to location and rescue services contains information on characteristics of the building.