Research on the application of mobile phone location signal data in earthquake emergency work: A case study of Jiuzhaigou earthquake

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 12;14(4):e0215361. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215361. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

After an earthquake, the important task of emergency rescue work is to minimize casualties, but due to the suddenness of earthquake disasters, it is difficult to obtain enough disaster information immediately, especially personnel distribution and movement information. The traditional methods of obtaining disaster data are through reports from the disaster area or field investigations by the emergency rescue team; this work lags, and its efficiency is low. This paper analyzes the feasibility of using mobile phone location signal data in earthquake emergency rescue work in several respects, such as quantity, location, change rate, and epicentral distance. The results show that mobile phone location signal data can quickly obtain the situation of personnel distribution and quantity after an earthquake, and we find the change rate, distance, etc., can determine the approximate range of the earthquake impact field. Through the data distribution in different time periods, the movement of personnel after the earthquake can be obtained. Based on several situations, we can determine the basic situation of the disaster-stricken areas in times after the earthquake, especially the personnel relevant to the situation, and these data can provide a scientific basis for emergency rescue decision making.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Phone* / statistics & numerical data
  • China
  • Earthquakes*
  • Emergencies
  • Geographic Information Systems* / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Natural Disasters*
  • Rescue Work / methods*
  • Rescue Work / statistics & numerical data

Grants and funding

This work was jointly supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1504403 and No. 2018YFC1504503), the China Earthquake Administration Special Project Surplus Fund (High Resolution Rapid Post-Earthquake Assessment Techniques), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41601390).