No.69 Disaster countermeasures using drones

Regarding small unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), as reported in the August 1, 2017 issue of Koho Inagi, the Inagi City Fire Department has independently introduced them, and from the same day, official operations such as disaster response have started.
Meanwhile, on July 26, 2017, we signed an agreement with the NPO Crisis Mappers Japan for support activities using unmanned aerial vehicles in the event of a disaster.
This agreement was signed in March this year by Chofu City and Komae City, which preceded it, and now Fuchu City, Hino City, Tama City, and Inagi City have joined together.
The specific content of the agreement is that the corporation will operate multiple drones to survey and image the damage situation from the sky within about an hour immediately after the disaster occurs, before the fire department and police start relief activities by helicopter. We will record this information, create a database that reflects this information in map information, and provide it to each city. We believe that each city will be able to quickly grasp the extent of damage and use it for initial response, as well as grasp the situation of neighboring cities, which will lead to mutual support.
The NPO Crisis Mappers Japan is headed by Professor Daichi Furuhashi, Faculty of Global Symbiosis, Aoyama Gakuin University, and is active as part of research on new uses for drones.
The drone can fly for about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the capacity of the battery it carries. It is expected that university student volunteers will operate the drone, and that the takeoff and landing bases will be at university facilities in the areas of the cities with which the agreement has been concluded. increase. It will be an initiative of industry-government-academia collaboration including companies that develop equipment.
By the way, the collaboration in the Tama River Basin started in 2013 with the cooperation of six cities in the middle basin of the Tama River (Fuchu City, Chofu City, Komae City, Hino City, Tama City, Inagi City) at the suggestion of the mayor of Chofu City, and exchanged information. We are promoting tourism and regional revitalization by holding events and events. Currently, the mayors of Ota Ward, Setagaya Ward, Kawasaki City, and Hachioji City have joined, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, nearby railway companies, and bus operators have also participated, deepening cooperation.
In the future, as with this drone agreement, disaster countermeasures will be added to the purpose, and we will strive to further expand cooperation and lead to regional development.