UAV team will use latest drones to gather crucial aerial imagery of affected regions in Nepal

It kind of reminds me of the little train that could.

Ever since I first heard of Global Medic, a tiny disaster relief organization at the time, I have been increasingly impressed by how highly effective, innovative and ground-breaking their disaster relief services are. Not only can they now provide temporary field hospitals until a more permanent building can be raised (following a collapse disaster), but they provide medical, nursing, and engineering teams too, all voluntary. It is an International Disaster Relief Organization comprised of volunteer paramedics, firefighters, police officers, doctors and nurses, and now apparently engineers and drone pilots are joining their ranks.

They came to my attention a few years ago when they deployed a small team to a disaster area bearing water purification equipment, something I'd not heard even existed before that. Their work results were impressive. We are now all aware that water becomes contaminated in disasters, but they demonstrated long ago how crucial it is to purify water and render it safe to drink in stricken areas where it makes an immense difference after a disaster. Their service was small but timely when they started out.

And now their relief team (they have one based in India too) will also include a drone team from AeryonLabs with a few of their latest models and high res cameras to survey the damaged areas without the need to put people in further danger. In this way they can assess, relay, and provide planning assistance which is so crucial to get to areas where roads are blocked by rockslides and landslides.
See video of drones and high tech cameras here

I cannot say enough good things about this growing organization. It has a laudable track record which you can investigate through the links provided below. As it grows, it still continues to guarantee that 100% of all donations are going to disaster relief. The founder is a working paramedic who IMHO will one day be nominated at the Nobel level of awards. He is humble, sincere and unassuming, "just an ordinary guy", I once heard him say in an interview. However As Global Medic becomes known for its consistently high quality and innovation in disaster relief, people who complain about high admin costs associated with other charities will begin to send their charitable donations to Global Medic instead, where they know the money will all be put to good use.

Global Medic is on Twitter.

Link to Global Medic web site.

Articles and interviews about Global Medical in one spot

They have begun to upload videos to YT. You can find their page of videos here

The drones will fly in Nepal on Tuesday. (When there is a disaster in any country, relief organizations including military must be invited in by the host country.) Thus the DART team has now been deployed and Global Medic will follow.

How have the drones helped so far?

"We're cross-stitching thousands upon thousands of images onto maps. And they show us everything," said GlobalMedic founder and executive director Rahul Singh.

He says the videos and photos captured by the UAVs reveal more detail than a satellite image.

"We'll be able to know what street is out, what building was destroyed, where the landslide has taken out a road, how many homes in a neighbourhood have collapsed," he said.
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In this instance, drone-maker Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, Ont., has loaned three UAVs — two Scout models and one SkyRanger, valued between $60,000-200,000 depending on how they're kitted out — to GlobalMedic.
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"The thermal camera system should allow aid crews to see the body heat of survivors more easily than using visible light alone", said Aeryon CEO Dave Kroetsch.

A fourth drone, another SkyRanger, may also be sent to Nepal.

Thermal imaging cameras mounted on drones in an earthquake disaster? Now that's innovative and impressive! I congratulate them on their foresight and sincerely wish them every possible success.