It is early in the morning on August 29, 2012, Isaac is looming over you and your trapped in your home or car! What do you do now? What can you do to increase your chances of rescued? How do you manage the nights while you wait for rescue?
Recalling the images of Japan and Katrina, and currently Isaac you will find many things in common. People were on rooftops waving flags, marking walls, creating messages (SOS) out of sheets or anything available. People are/were trapped in cars or in between building rubble waving or moving around. All of this for one single purpose, to let someone know “I am alive”! “I am here”! “Please help”!!!!!!!
What can be done to empower citizens to be located after the disaster has struck and caused its devastation? Juan Cienfuegos is proposing a Personal Disaster Identification System that could be adopted by local, national and international emergency response systems. This system would go into effect anytime any kind of warning, whether it be a tornado warning, a hurricane warning, a flashflood warning, a tsunami warning, etc… is issued. The system works like this:
Whenever a warning goes into effect the un-evacuated citizens of the affected area tag themselves with an illuminated display (Personal Light) so they can be seen when it gets dark and stick out like a sore thumb. Children would be marked and recognized by a solid red, women would be marked a solid green, and men would be marked solid blue. First responders, usually your neighbors, now see the illuminated displays as indicators of human beings. The idea is that survivors and non-survivors can be more easily located once night-time falls, a time when most SAR activities are suspended and survivors pray for the daylight in hopes of being noticed. Now this valuable time can be used to observe and note areas where survivors are located and areas where non survivors are located. Neighbors now can signal neighbors/responders and convey their location, numbers, make up and condition.
The survivors would indicate their status by switching the illuminated display to a flashing mode. This would allow first responders to distinguish between non-survivors (solid lights) and survivors (flashing lights). If a survivor for some reason cannot switch the selection to a blinking selection they should be able to move the lights around and convey movement, possibly indicating a weak or trapped survivor for days or weeks.
This system can be adopted and implemented at minimal cost. To recognize and adopt the Illuminated Personal Identification System costs no money, to train our nation’s first responders to identify the illuminated displays as humans and educate our citizens to wear an Illuminated Personal Display System would cost minimal amount of money. Citizens would be responsible for purchasing their own illuminated personal disaster displays and programs similar to the TV Converter Box Coupon Program and Grants could be used get the Illuminated Personal Display System in the hands of the elderly, disabled, financially challenged or populations living in disaster prone areas. The important thing is to learn lessons from past and present disasters and do something about them today.
It is time to implement new and novel ideas that empowers and better prepare our citizens and First Responders to respond to the inevitable natural disasters that can strike at any time. Help them, help you! Contact Juan Cienfuegos at info@triagelights.com with any comments, issues, criticisms, obstacles, opinions, or personal stories of when a little light would have helped.
Recalling the images of Japan and Katrina, and currently Isaac you will find many things in common. People were on rooftops waving flags, marking walls, creating messages (SOS) out of sheets or anything available. People are/were trapped in cars or in between building rubble waving or moving around. All of this for one single purpose, to let someone know “I am alive”! “I am here”! “Please help”!!!!!!!
What can be done to empower citizens to be located after the disaster has struck and caused its devastation? Juan Cienfuegos is proposing a Personal Disaster Identification System that could be adopted by local, national and international emergency response systems. This system would go into effect anytime any kind of warning, whether it be a tornado warning, a hurricane warning, a flashflood warning, a tsunami warning, etc… is issued. The system works like this:
Whenever a warning goes into effect the un-evacuated citizens of the affected area tag themselves with an illuminated display (Personal Light) so they can be seen when it gets dark and stick out like a sore thumb. Children would be marked and recognized by a solid red, women would be marked a solid green, and men would be marked solid blue. First responders, usually your neighbors, now see the illuminated displays as indicators of human beings. The idea is that survivors and non-survivors can be more easily located once night-time falls, a time when most SAR activities are suspended and survivors pray for the daylight in hopes of being noticed. Now this valuable time can be used to observe and note areas where survivors are located and areas where non survivors are located. Neighbors now can signal neighbors/responders and convey their location, numbers, make up and condition.
The survivors would indicate their status by switching the illuminated display to a flashing mode. This would allow first responders to distinguish between non-survivors (solid lights) and survivors (flashing lights). If a survivor for some reason cannot switch the selection to a blinking selection they should be able to move the lights around and convey movement, possibly indicating a weak or trapped survivor for days or weeks.
This system can be adopted and implemented at minimal cost. To recognize and adopt the Illuminated Personal Identification System costs no money, to train our nation’s first responders to identify the illuminated displays as humans and educate our citizens to wear an Illuminated Personal Display System would cost minimal amount of money. Citizens would be responsible for purchasing their own illuminated personal disaster displays and programs similar to the TV Converter Box Coupon Program and Grants could be used get the Illuminated Personal Display System in the hands of the elderly, disabled, financially challenged or populations living in disaster prone areas. The important thing is to learn lessons from past and present disasters and do something about them today.
It is time to implement new and novel ideas that empowers and better prepare our citizens and First Responders to respond to the inevitable natural disasters that can strike at any time. Help them, help you! Contact Juan Cienfuegos at info@triagelights.com with any comments, issues, criticisms, obstacles, opinions, or personal stories of when a little light would have helped.
