E.S.C.A.P.E - Earthquake Safety and Coordinated Assistance for Public Evacuation

Every year, large-scale earthquakes result in thousands of injuries, communication blackouts, overwhelmed hospitals, and widespread panic. In these events, survivors may not have access to cell service and would be unable to navigate to safety, while first responders face delays in helping those in need. Current evacuation methods focus on transporting resources to injured patients; however, we propose a system to efficiently and safely move individuals away from the impact zone into safe areas and medical centers by incorporating aviation. Our interconnected system includes Wi-Fi drones providing hotspots to those without cell service, illumination drones equipped with color-coded beacons to guide people, eVTOLs for fast emergency response to the severely injured, and a cellphone app that optimizes user direction to ensure proper accommodations for occupants. Once an earthquake is detected, drones are sent from their local charging stations to the impact zone to provide Wi-Fi hotspots and guide people using color-coded beacons. At the same time, eVTOLs are sent to help those who are immobile or severely injured by providing a direct airlift to hospitals. Users are able to access the app through Wi-Fi provided by the network of drone hotspots and are given directions to safe areas (NSCs, Triage Centers, Hospitals, or Evacuation Zones) based on their injury severity. The system tracks users and gives updates to first responders to prevent overcrowding. Overall, our comprehensive system can reduce evacuation delays and help those who are immobile. This creates a model that can be used for future earthquakes and other natural disasters.