SOS Message Distribution for Searching Disaster Victims

Abstract

This chapter presents the design and implementation of the SOSCast application which enables SOS message distribution for searching victims in a disaster-damaged area. During catastrophic disasters such an earthquake or tsunami, people may be injured or trapped in fallen buildings and debris. In situations like these, it is critical that rescue operations must be done within the first 72 h to save many lives. It is also during these events where communication infrastructures are severely damaged, and thus, makes it difficult for victims to ask for help due to the absence of communication channels. By using the SOSCast application in such scenario, victims are able to exchange SOS mes- sages automatically by communicating directly among smartphones with less opera- tion. By collecting these SOS messages, rescuers can find the existences of the victims as mapped on their smartphones. We have shown in our preliminary experiment within a residential area that SOSCast is capable of determining the existence of a propagator based on the collected SOS messages.