ONELIFE #35 – American English

PROJECT HERO
drone and communications package give the vehicle an
additional capability that in this combination was a first
for emergency services.
Glanzer highlights two factors causing emergency
services to rethink how they deal with disaster, saying:
“Climate change is already disrupting infrastructure
and people’s lives.” Additionally, an increasingly
outdoor sports and technology-oriented society is
taking more risks. Both factors are causing an
uneasiness within the international emergency and
disaster management community and confirm the
need to be prepared for the worst.
Working together with Land Rover, the Red Cross
identified the need for an off-road capable, mobile
command post. Equipped with advanced analogue
and digital communications and able to monitor
events utilizing a full suite of high-resolution and infrared
cameras mounted on an advanced drone, the idea
behind ‘Project Hero’ came about after a snowstorm
had paralyzed traffic in Hungary, trapping 20,000
people in their cars for six hours.
ENABLING FASTER RESPONSES
As well as managing ‘Project Hero’ for the Austrian Red
Cross, Markus Glanzer is primarily responsible for
national crisis and disaster relief programs. He
understands intimately the requirement for a fast,
coordinated response to crisis.
Building on the long-standing relationship between
Land Rover and the Red Cross, which currently extends
to 18 projects in 25 countries on four continents, the
All-New Discovery vehicle was selected as the base
vehicle for ‘Project Hero’ as it offered huge ability both
on- and off-road and a highly versatile interior. The
HIGHLY REALISTIC TRAINING
The Bregenz forest region in Vorarlberg mixes dramatic
mountain panoramas with forest and alpine pastures
and is interspersed with picturesque villages and towns.
At 5 am, the half-light slowly reveals a range of peaks
jutting threateningly over an uncannily still quarry.
A landslide has caught a scout troop out camping
off-guard. Thirty terrified youngsters, some only lightly
injured, others lucky to be alive, are scattered across
the unreal, rocky landscape. With almost military-like
precision, the emergency services move into position,
dog teams are on hand, the volunteer fire fighters
jump into action. Coordination is in the hands of the
Austrian Red Cross. Speed is the
key as some of the teenagers
have been buried by earth and
“SPEED IS THE
rubble, while others lying out in
KEY AS SOME OF the open require urgent medical
attention. To the observer, it is
THE TEENAGERS surprising how calm and
collected the first responders are
HAVE BEEN BURIED
as they arrive on the scene.
BY EARTH
Over three days, 14 very different
scenarios ranging from the
AND RUBBLE”
landslide outlined previously to
a collision between a minibus and
a passenger train were staged
by the Austrian Red Cross as part of a major exercise
designed to measure the effectiveness and response
times at all levels, from management down to the
volunteer paramedic. Along with their emergency
service partners, 450 Red Cross members were
put to the test. As the exercise revealed, disaster
management is a complex business.
EYES AND EARS
Dealing with complexity is a specialty of the Land Rover
Special Vehicles Operations (SVO) division. SVO
engineers Matt Furlong, Ben Brett and Donal Phair
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