This morning, I’d like to discuss the critical role of Drone Applications in Disaster Recovery Effort Applications, henceforth referred to as DREA. Drones in this sector can perform a wide range of support tasks, significantly reducing recovery times through their capacity for immediate data utilization or extensive data collection for use throughout the recovery period post-disaster.

First let me tell you about my experiences and paint a picture for you so you can fathom what life in a disaster-affected area is like, and what it does to you. I’m a native Floridian, accustomed to hurricanes every season. In my experiences with these disastrous events, I can tell you that the recovery to infrastructure and personal property is only a part of it. The exposure, emotional toll, stress, and personal healing take much longer to overcome, even after the affected area has recovered.

My real insights and realizations came from assisting in recovery efforts after Hurricane Andrew in ’92 as a teenager.

I lived in and performed water recuse operations in Cypress, Texas when Houston got hit by Hurricane Harvey.

I now live in Conroe, Texas, that just got hit by Hurricane Beril. With Beril our power grids were out due to the electrical companies not being prepared for Hurricane Beril. Our power was out for 2 weeks…. My mother-in-law’s house and power pole were split in half by fallen trees. She didn’t have power available for a month!

When you have no power, you get a front row seat to watch YOUR LIFE spiral into decline. Your home becomes a sweltering, dirty shell as you attempt to maintain cleanliness in the oppressive heat, mirroring the summer outside. Constant sweat and stickiness become the norm without air conditioning, and hot water is a luxury unless you have gas.

You

better pray you have food and supplies, because all of the businesses around you are in the same boat you’re in. They can’t ring you up and until these companies send their stores’ generators and get them hooked up, the food in the stores and their freezers are rotting.

While we are on the subject… if you don’t already have a generator, you’re REALLY going to be stuck with your butt in the wind. The prices of generators skyrocket during every disaster. $500 generators will be bought up by scumbags around the affected area of a disaster, and then they drive into said disaster area and resell those generators for $2000. The stores aren’t as bad but aren’t far behind on the principal of them adjusting their pricing on supply and demand.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to, you must drive outside of your affected area just to get the things you would get down the street, and that’s if their surpluses aren’t wiped out.

Days into a disaster affected area people are hot, they are desperate, they are hungry. You feel hopeless.

With your life shuffled, you focus on surviving, but for how long, and how? “Did my house survive?”  “Did my car survive?” If you evacuated- “When can I get to my property?”  “When will my job open up?” At this point the desperation for solutions and resolutions WILL lead to crime, and looting of for resources, and needs for normalcy… To “The Desperate”, even a temporary fix or solution will do.”

PEOPLE IN THESE DESPERATE TIMES SEEK OUT HELP!!!

At times it may not be there immediately.

THEY WAIT ON REPLIES & COMMUNCATIONS FROM THEIR INSURANCE COMPANIES, UTILITY COMPANIES, HUMANITARIN & GOVERNMENT RESOURCES LIKE THE RED CROSS, AND FEMA!!!

Assessors and agents from all these agencies may be stretched thin and may not be able to get to you for weeks at a time, depending on how affected your area is.

HELP FROM FAMILY MEMEBERS THEY’VE BEEN CUT OFF FROM!!!

YOU: “Will my family come look for me to help when they know I’ve been affected?”

YOUR FAMILY: “We can’t contact them, are they ok?”

YOU FEEL HELPLESS.

Life, as you know it, is falling apart. Must of the time you’re ponding…

“When can I return home?” “When can I repair my home?” “How am I going to fix my car?” “When will I be able to work again to earn money to survive?” “How will I survive this?” “When will things be normal again?”

The answers to all of these questions and more have a lot to do with Time & Response. DREA decreases the time it takes to respond, record, repair, & recover. With DREA, Drones can play a very significant part in accelerating disaster recovery. They quicken response times.

They can record and inspect in areas that may be inaccessible to repair crews for utility companies, search and rescue teams, and disaster response teams.

Drones can drop medical, and humanitarian supplies off to people stranded in areas that may be inaccessible for long periods of time.

Drones can gather information for insurance inspectors so they can send in their reports and get financial relief to their customers.

I just saw an article that said thousands of cars were stuck on a bridge…. Drones can offer relief and access damages to infrastructure, triage ….

Look, I can go on all day on this subject, but the bottom line is, is that in any disaster preparedness is as much of a key principle prior to an upcoming event as response is after the event!

We Are Here. We Are Ready.

Please spread this around, Like It. Share It. Let Others Know How It Feels to Go Through This. Tell the Companies, Agencies, & Resources You Know of THAT WE ARE HERE. WE ARE READY. WE CAN HELP FROM THE AIR!