A major typhoon named Haiyan destroyed several villages in the Philippines in 2013, wiping out more than 6,000 people and the farming areas they lived in. Various relief groups used drones to fly over the affected areas and assess damage, find displaced people, and pinpoint blocked roads.
However, the different authorities using drones did not communicate with each other or local authorities, which led to massive confusion and the inability to provide resources where needed most. According to Patrick Meier, who was in the Philippines for humanitarian aid for the UN, these teams failed to inform each other about their findings, which created a large gap in understanding the severity of the typhoon and prevented them from providing help at the right place at the right time.
According to Meier, these issues point out how important it has become to create a set of best practices for drone usage when offering humanitarian aid. As founder of the Humanitarian UAV Network, he thinks that it’s vital for authorities to discuss a code of conduct for drones in emergency situations. This will help both authorities and victims and may often may save lives. The Humanitarian UAV Network intends to create guidelines the following month that will make using drones in such situations safe and effective.
While UAVs are mostly known for their use by the military, commercial drones are becoming increasingly popular with those who enjoy aerial photography or even for people who want to fly drones for fun. At the same time, drones are already being used for valuable purposes such as locating and minimizing forest fires or delivering medicine to people in remote locations. Even relief efforts for the tsunami that wreaked havoc in Indonesia in 2004 involved the use of drones. Even though drones were not as capable back then as they are now, clearly people understand their value and how important they can be.
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