A Systematic Approach to Maximizing Search Capabilities for Finding Trapped Survivors in Collapsed Structures

The collapse of the Champlain Tower in Surfside Florida on June 24, 2021 and its subsequent 14-day search and rescue mission caused public and government concerns about the efficiency of urban search and rescue (USAR) strategies. There is, however, no published tool for assessing search findings from a disciplined search methodology, supported by data from USAR missions. Each task force must therefore rely on its own expertise. In this project, we developed a decision support tool prototype that promotes the establishment of a systematic, probability-based strategy to project the survival likelihood for any given area of a collapsed structure. The tool is designed to combine multiple experts' onsite survival probability assessments to assist USAR leaders in making informed decisions about the length and effectiveness of rescue missions based on the unique and evolving factors of a collapse. The probability-based tool is intended to increase the certainty and reduce the time needed for decision makers to conclude that any and all survivors have been found. The time and resources saved by using this tool can then be directed towards other collapse sites or to other post-disaster recovery efforts for the community.