Waterproof drones to be deployed for disasters at 10 cities

October 22, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency will deploy at 10 ordinance-designated cities in fiscal 2018 waterproof drones that can survey disaster-hit areas even in bad weather in which helicopters cannot fly, officials have said.

The government aims to strengthen its information-gathering capabilities so that it can better deal with natural disasters, in light of lessons from a deluge that hit northern parts of the Kyushu southwestern region in July this year.

Unable to fly helicopters for gathering information at the outset of the disaster due to strong rain and wind, the government instead flew all-weather drones that the Cabinet Office was developing.

The drones captured images, including those showing the conditions of roads to isolated villages in Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. These images were used to provide information to relevant organizations, such as the agency and local governments.

The agency hopes to utilize information gathered through drones to determine how many firefighters will be necessary to deal with disasters and how much help should be obtained from prefectures other than those directly hit by the disasters. Jiji Press