Providing Guidance for Evacuation during an Emergency Based on a Real-Time Damage and Vulnerability Assessment of Facilities

Abstract

Following a disaster or an emergency situation (e.g., earthquake,) in a facility, it is crucial for emergency response teams to rapidly access navigation information of the facility, its contents and the final status of the facility (e.g., damages and vulnerable locations). However, in the current practice, accessing these information items is time-consuming and the accessed information is incomplete, since there are multiple sources of information that are mostly disorganized. This study proposes a Building Information Model (BIM) based approach integrated with sensors to provide the damage and vulnerability information of the facility for efficient response and for safe evacuation of the facility. The proposed framework integrates navigation algorithms, a vulnerability assessment approach and the status information obtained from various sensors that are strategically deployed inside the facility. This framework will be used for guiding the occupants and rescue teams through safe locations in a facility during evacuation.