Points to consider

Natural disasters, CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) and terrorist attacks using explosives can cause massive destruction, administrative havoc, high mortality and many casualties not only in urban areas but also in critical infrastructures, usually, without warning; this is particularly true for earthquakes. Earthquakes involve more than 30% of the total fatalities from natural disasters the last 20 years. On average, about 7 lethal earthquakes were occurring each year in the 20th century. More than 1,800,000 deaths were officially reported in the same century. However, terrorist attacks especially in high-rise buildings (e.g. telecom hotels, airports) can be responsible for a large number of entrapped people as well. The 9/11 event was such a case. Entrapment is also the result of collapsed structures due to accidental or deliberate explosions (e.g. collapsed mines, technical failures, confined spaces). It is therefore made clear that in normal (natural disasters etc.) and abnormal emergencies (terrorism etc.), first responder work is crucial in reducing the number of victims and minimizing the effects on society and the environment.
Following explosions or construction failures, Search and Rescue (SaR) teams of First Responders are sent, with a mission to: (a) locate and extricate persons entrapped in damaged buildings, shelters, vehicles and other enclosures, or from contaminated areas, giving first aid during rescue and removing, or arranging the removal of people to safety and (b) recover critical supplies, materials and equipment needed for the survival of the community.
Search and rescue operations meet with significant, interdisciplinary challenges. Technical challenges include the following activities:

• increase precision on disaster’ size and magnitude assessment to better manage logistics operations; rescue action planning and first responders’ monitoring to minimize risks of human casualties among rescue teams
• enable communication between first responders, command centres and victims with integrated communications platform and ad-hoc networking mechanisms
• ensure interoperability among engaged means and systems and especially the digital data transfer and communication systems, exploiting Service Oriented Architecture,
• provide sophisticated early location devices, to deploy wireless sensors network consisting of tiny low-power sensor nodes,
• Provide Command and Control modules to facilitate coordination of activities during rescue operation and Decision making, emphasizing on logistics and commandment coordination throughout a network of very diverse and decentralised logistic providers.