- AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki
VIVA – Technology designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was deployed after devastating earthquakes hit Turkiye and Syria. It was seconded to find people trapped in the rubble.
The space agency said that rescue groups in Turkey were sent NASA spin-off technology that can detect people trapped under rubble from Florida's SpecOps Group.
The prototype unit, dubbed Finding Individuals for Disaster Emergency Response (Finder), was originally built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in collaboration with the US Department of Homeland Security before licensing it to SpecOps.
“In times of disaster, technology can be a lifeline. Finder, a @Nasa spinoff technology, is providing rescue teams with a crucial tool to locate and aid those in need after the recent earthquake in Türkiye and Syria,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a tweet.
The units work by using microwave radar to detect minuscule motions of the body caused by processes such as heartbeats or respiration.
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- Kemhan RI
“Your body moves a millimeter when your heart beats. Because the rubble itself isn’t moving, we can separate those motions out,” said Jim Lux, who was task manager on the Finder prototypes. “Then, we look to see if the motion shows both heartbeats and respiration.”
NASA said it was also working to share its aerial views and data from space to support relief and recovery workers.
The search for survivors continued following two powerful earthquakes which struck the Turkish-Syria border region hours apart just over a week ago despite dwindling hopes.
The quakes killed more than 40,000 people and have left millions in need of emergency aid. The first quake registered a magnitude of 7.7 on Feb 6 and the second, later that same day registered a magnitude of 7.6.
The death toll from the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria has risen to more than 35,000. The financial damage caused by the earthquake alone is estimated at US$84.1 billion or around IDR 1.2 quadrillion, according to the Turkish Confederation of Companies and Businesses, a non-governmental business organization.
In addition, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also called for a three-month state of emergency and has visited several shelters in the hardest-hit Kahramanmaras. Residents were forced to flee their homes due to the earthquake.
