Four people in Nepal owe their lives to the NASA “Finder” (Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response), a device that can determine the location of earthquake victims via their heartbeats. It was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, together with the Science and Technology Directorate division of the Department of Homeland Security. The Nepal 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which occurred on April 25, 2015, killed more than 8,000 people and caused injuries to thousands of others who either live or travel in Nepal.
Two of the NASA Finder devices were transported to Nepal to help find trapped victims. One was used in the Chautara region, which is east of Kathmandu. There, the NASA Finder located two people trapped under the remains of a textile factory. The other two were found alive trapped under rubble in a different location.
NASA Finder Senses Quake Victims Under and Above Ground
The NASA Finder is about the same size as an average piece of luggage, weighing about 20 pounds; it can find people buried under rubble as far as 300 feet underground, through up to 20 feet of concrete. It has a range of around 100 feet in an open area. The interesting thing about the NASA Finder is that it can also tell the difference between a person’s heartbeat and that of an animal that might travel into the search area.
Since debris or rubble doesn’t move, the NASA Finder is able to locate earthquake victims through the reflections of movement of the heart and lungs. According to the Department of Homeland Security, real-time disasters like the recent Nepal earthquake are helping NASA to improve the Finder prototype so it can be made commercially available in the future. This is the first time the device has been officially used in a real time disaster.
NASA Finder Works Along With Satellites
The NASA Finder device is proving to be a vital tool for disaster stricken areas. NASA used satellites to help make it more precise by mapping out the disaster area in the village where it was used. It has a remote type of radar that beams microwave signals into the debris piles in order to analyze the area to look for heartbeat and breathing reflections. The four people who were found alive and rescued through the NASA Finder were buried under about 10 feet of bricks and other debris.
