Seven things that could help you during a disaster
Latest technologies designed to keep humans alive in a catastrophe appeared at the World Conference on Disaster Management in Mississauga this week.
Thestar.com
June 8, 2016
By Michael Robinson
The Star visited the World Conference on Disaster Management in Mississauga earlier this week to learn about the latest and greatest technologies designed to keep humans alive before, during and after a catastrophic disaster.
Inflatable field hospital
“It’s like taking a normal hospital and putting it in a disaster zone,” Sandra Damota, a Canadian Red Cross “psychosocial” delegate, said of the organization’s inflatable field hospital.
The mobile hospital’s skeletal structure can be inflated in half an hour, but getting it operational takes one to two days.
It doesn’t solely provide medical care. Part of Damota’s job is to help re-establish a sense of normalcy after a disaster by, for example, helping to reconnect family members who got separated.
This “hospital in a box” was deployed in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan. Medical staff and technicians also went to Sierra Leone to deal with recent flare-ups of Ebola.
Mobile comfort unit
At first glance, the Salvation Army’s mobile comfort unit might be mistaken for an ambulance. But the cabinets are stocked with socks, snacks and teddy bears, not medical supplies.
“When a fire happens, people’s first priority is to get out, which is the smart thing to do,” said Mark Evans, a Salvation Army emergency disaster services manager. “So in here, we do a needs assessment to help people figure out their next steps.”
The retrofitted emergency vehicle is also outfitted with a television, DVD player and movies to keep kids distracted from the chaos outside. A unit like it has been operating in Ottawa for a decade, but a GTA vehicle is expected to roll out later this year.
Alarm Techno-Takeover
Many experts at the conference spoke about the importance of clear and widespread communication during an emergency. Alertus Technologies’ flashy alert beacons, combined with mass notification software, help in that task.
A key feature is the system’s ability to instantly override network-connected television and computer screens, replacing regular programming with warnings and evacuation instructions.
“The University of Ottawa used us following the shooting at Parliament,” said Erik Eckstrand, the company’s director of higher education sales. “We were able to take over 10,000 computers with partial screen notifications in English and French.”
Fighting Fire with Charity
A Toronto-based charity’s mission is to equip firefighters in the world’s poorest regions with the gear they need.
“We take decommissioned equipment, everything from earplugs to fire trucks, and distribute it for free,” said GlobalFire’s Craig Lester.
Lester, an active Toronto firefighter, explained that firefighter bunker gear is in constant high demand in developing countries. Ladders, gas-powered cutting saws, even batteries for radios are also needed.
“It’s fascinating to see our counterparts in other countries and how they operate,” he said. “Some don’t use medical-grade oxygen, but use industrial oxygen meant for welders instead.”
Using water to fight water
Forget sandbags. The key weapon against floods of the future may come in the form of elongated orange tubes.
When pumped full of water, Calgary-based Tiger Dams’ tubing system transforms into a pyramidal structure. According to Trevor Wright, of the International Flood Control Corporation, it works much like sandbags but requires less manpower and machinery.
“We use water to fight water,” he said.
The largest Tiger Dam is six metres high and weighs about 4500 kg. For those times where just one orange dam isn’t enough, multiple tubes can be strapped together and anchored.
Catastrophe? There’s an app for that
Several apps made their debut at the conference, including Get Ready Online, a software tool that replaces policy binders by consolidating written procedures into a single screen accessible via a smartphone or computer.
Pre-drafted action plans cover several scenarios, ranging from bomb threats to a missing infant at a hospital and a utility failure.
Company president Scott Ashley said people “just want to know what to do” in the event of an emergency, as opposed to “consulting a binder filled with 40 pages of policy.”
Refugee camp virtual reality
“Imagine being on your phone, and you can walk through an evacuation route,” said Desi Matel-Anderson of Field Innovation Team, a Utah-based non-profit.
That’s possible thanks to a virtual-reality disaster plan for refugees that she helped develop after visiting the Bekaa Valley refugee camp in eastern Lebanon last year, following a devastating fire in the tent settlement.
The project “amplified and augmented” the camp’s evacuation route by capturing it with a 360-degree camera mounted to a selfie-stick. The team then downloaded the video to refugees’ devices, “so the next time there is a fire, they know how to get out of the camp,” she said.
