Control Room for earthquakes

This particular Jixel application is used when the intervention of rescue teams in the aftermath of an earthquake is needed. Through the use of the Virtual Control Room, rescue teams can exchange information with each other and have a fast and reliable mechanism to record their activities. The application also allows to monitor the restoration of homes and buildings and the status of historic buildings.

Jixel for the earthquake and the aftermath of the earthquake

Jixel allows to send, receive, manage and share information between emergency services. The information about the intervention, including type of the event, location, detailed description, urgency, severity and relevant data for all SAR teams are input using the Jixel-MANAGER interface and can be shared with other teams with Jixel-SHARE.
Normally, as soon as the urgent activities has ended, the focus of the rescue teams become the assessment of houses and building conditions. The immediate goal is to allow citizens to safely return to their homes and to identify any urgent restoring activities that may reduce risks and protect historical building during the after-shock seismic swarm.
Jixel offers a flexible and effective solution to the challenge of having different teams, with different priorities and technical procedures, to cooperate and quickly share a geographical view of the building to be monitored and of the on-going results of the on-site activities.

As for the case of the interventions, the description of the buildings (including typology, location, detailed description, actual conditions and relevant information for the teams, e.g. pictures) are input using the Jixel-MANAGER interface. All information can be accessed by the intended recipients and displayed on the Jixel geographical interface.
With a combination of map view, synthetic textual presentation and full-details presentation, Jixel allows users to have an overview of the evolution of the situation in a selected area, as well as to access detailed information for further planning. Users may filter information according to several criteria, search a given location, be updated in real time with messages coming from other SAR teams. This way, vital information can be quickly retrieved and used

Experience

Jixel during L’Aquila and Emilia Romagna earthquakes

Emergency Services used Jixel during the L’Aquila (2009) and Emilia Romagna (2012) earthquakes.
On 6 April 2009 the area of L’Aquila was hit by an earthquake that killed 309 people and damaged or destroyed thousands of houses and buildings. Immediately after the disaster occurred, SAR (Search and Rescue) teams started to gather in the area and activities were coordinated by the Italian Civil Protection. As usual, SAR teams from Italian “Vigili del Fuoco” (CNVVF) have been heavily involved, with 2300 firemen and 116 teams operating on a large area and organised in a central headquarters (DI.COMA.C) and 7 local headquarters.

As soon as the urgent SAR activities had ended, the focus of the rescue teams became the assessment of houses and building conditions. Again, teams from CNVVF are playing a major role, in combination with engineers and technicians from other Public Authorities. A noticeable cooperation was established with MiBACT (Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo – Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism) for the conditions assessment and monitoring of historical buildings (e.g. churches or medieval castles). The JIXEL technology has been a fast and reliable mechanism to record the activities in Abruzzo. A large number of interventions were geolocated since the early days after the earthquake.
Jixel offered another flexible and effective solution to the challenge of having different teams, with different priorities and technical procedures, to cooperate and quickly share a geographical view of the building to be monitored and of the on-going results of the on-site activities. Hundreds of historical buildings were geolocated and actions assigned and monitored, also allowing the generation of statistical reports.

During L’Aquila earthquake, Jixel has been used also for the involvement of the citizens in the assessment of cultural heritage buildings conditions. If you want to learn more, click here. In Emilia Romagna Region, Jixel has been used by Vigili del Fuoco to monitor and manage the rubbles and debris caused by the earthquake.