Natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes don’t occur very often. But when they do, they cause widespread damage, putting people’s lives at risk. These disasters can level the entire town, making it painstaking for search and rescue teams to find survivors. About 387 natural hazards and disasters occurred worldwide in 2022. The Emergency Events Database EM-DAT reveals this. These events affected nearly 185 million individuals and resulted in the loss of 30,704 lives. Advancements in technology, however, are helping people prepare for and respond faster to these events. In this blog post, we’ll explore some innovative disaster relief and detection technologies that are helping save lives in the wake of a natural disaster. NASA FINDER tool Image: NASA The NASA FINDER tool has emerged as a pioneering tool for aiding disaster relief efforts. FINDER—Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response—was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Though no bigger than the size of a suitcase, FINDER locates disaster victims by detecting heartbeats under 30 feet of debris. NASA’s FINDER tool sends a low-power microwave signal through the debris and observes variations in the reflections of the returning signals. These are usually believed to be caused by tiny motions caused by victims’ breathing or the heart’s pulsation. FINDER identifies a survivor’s location by distinguishing these minute stirrings from the victim’s surroundings. This technology has been used to find trapped survivors in disasters from Nepal to Mexico. In 2023, NASA sent its heartbeat-detecting tech to Turkey to help…4 disaster relief and detection technologies that save lives