First-Aid Transportation by Hovercraft in a Disaster

Transportation is one of the most important and urgent tasks in a disaster, e.g., earthquake or flood. Trains, trucks and cars are very restricted by destruction of rail and road, bridges and buildings fall down, flood waters and thick mud, landslides, cracks, level differences, severe traffic jam etc. Sunken objects in the water and damages of quays prevent ships from reaching harbors. The situation remains days, weeks and even months.Hovercraft can run on almost every surface: ground, water surface, mud, sands, grits, weeds etc. The performance is very favorable in the first-aid transportation in a disaster.A middle size hovercraft with payload of 2–3 tons is suitable for first-aid work in a disaster. The amount of load is appropriate for loading and unloading by manpower without using a special loading machine. Small loads with frequent return trip are desirable to fulfill needs that are changing from time to time. A system of first-aid transportation by a number of hovercraft of middle size is proposed in this paper as an additional system of transportation to existing ones. The system is very useful for first-aid transportation in a disaster.A simulation of hovercraft transportation was carried out after the Kobe Earthquake in 1995 as an example. We assume that 20 hovercraft of middle size are operated from 6 bases just outside of the disaster area to 12 destinations in the area. The result shows that they can transport up to 1,200 tons goods in a day in addition to those of conventional transportation means without disturbing them.