Drones and evacuations

When disaster strikes, it’s the responsibility of authorities to get people to safety. However, directing large groups of people away from a hazard can be a hazardous operation in itself. When conducting these evacuations on large scales - from a building, a city, or even a region - a well-organized and executed plan is critical to getting everyone out quickly and efficiently and avoiding panic.

Evacuations are an area where UAS are proving themselves invaluable. In this newsletter, we’re looking at some examples of exactly how they can be used to support evacuations at any scale. 

Principles of evacuation

Evacuation procedures begin with the decision to evacuate, which can be prior to, during or following the event. Once made, the decision to evacuate must be effectively communicated to all affected people. Following this, the evacuation plan is executed, which requires clear routes for people to follow and preset assembly points, as well as rendering assistance to those who are not mobile or who’ve been cut off from evacuation routes. Finally, there must be facilities to shelter and provide for the evacuated people. How do drones help?

1. Mapping evacuation routes

Every second counts in emergency situations, so pre-planned evacuation routes and protocols for emergency response teams can mean the difference between life and death. Drones are being used extensively to find evacuation routes in advance. For example, a mapping project in Indonesia in 2017 found that the tsunami evacuation routes proposed by the national emergency relief agency were ineffective. Experts suggested that a maximum time of 11 minutes would be needed. The data collected from drones was used to create shorter and more efficient routes, as well as enabling a tsunami inundation model that was used to pinpoint ideal safe areas for shelters. 

Of course, even the best laid plans don’t always survive the demands of reality, so real-time, continuously updated data is needed to ensure safe evacuations. Drones provide this too. For example, when a tropical cyclone hit Mozambique in January 2019, UAS supplied by a United Nations agency was used to find the most efficient routes for people to escape from the rising flood as it happened. Similarly, firefighters working with the U.S. Forest Service have reported regularly sending up drones to find evacuation routes for themselves if they get trapped by the fire they’re currently fighting. 

2. Communicating evacuation orders 

It may sound obvious, but if people don’t know they need to evacuate, they won’t. Warnings can be sent using city alarm systems, TV, radio and phone messages, but even all of these mediums may be insufficient. For example, in early 2025, many people in Los Angeles County received incorrect or outdated wildfire warnings because cellphone towers had been knocked out by the fire. Another example came from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake in Japan - research found that around 35 percent of people didn’t hear the evacuation warnings broadcast over city speaker systems. 

Drones provide a solution. In Sendai, Japan, automated drones split into two groups and fly up and down an 8km section of the coast at 50m altitude broadcasting the evacuation order through speakers. Meanwhile, at Osaka University, tests have been run using teams of drones carrying large screens and laser projectors to graphically illustrate to evacuees exactly where they should go. These capabilities are applicable on smaller scales too, such as when evacuating a building or facility. In such cases, loudspeakers are even more effective, and thermal cameras enable authorities to easily spot people who have been left behind or chosen not to comply with the order. 

3. Operational oversight

Despite the best efforts of authorities, evacuations are often chaotic. It’s challenging to corral large numbers of people who are frightened for themselves, their families and their possessions. For example in 2019, the Fijian National Disaster Management Office ran a tsunami evacuation exercise and monitored it using drones. They found that even in an exercise situation many people were deviating from the set routes. This data informed them that when a tsunami does strike, they’ll need to post officials at strategic points to avoid this behavior. 

High Lander has experience with this too. In 2024, we used Orion to oversee a full-scale earthquake simulation at ICL’s Dead Sea facility. A major part of the operation was the orderly evacuation of hundreds of employees from all points of a large and complex facility. Drone operators used Orion to ensure that personnel stuck to the designated routes, used the object detection feature to accurately count the crowd at the assembly areas, and used thermal cameras to scan the facility for stragglers. Patrolling drones overhead enabled the command center to oversee the entire operation. 

4. The future: medical evacuation 

The first aerial medical evacuation (commonly known as medevac) actually took place back in 1915 when French aviation pioneer Louis Paulhan flew a Slovakian pilot named Milan Rastislav Štefánik for treatment after he was shot down. Today, helicopter airlifts for medical emergencies are everyday occurrences, but remain hugely expensive compared to road ambulances. Another important note on this subject is the finding of the Japanese government that many people in the 2011 earthquake chose to stay with those who couldn’t evacuate due to injury,  illness or old age. 

The airlifting of casualties in emergencies could be the next chapter of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NATO actually released a report dedicated to this subject (“Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Casualty Evacuation - What Needs to be Done”) in 2012. Today, with eVTOLs built, tested, and waiting for approval to take off, using them to airlift casualties during evacuations seems like a no-brainer. They could save the lives of people with limited mobility, while indirectly saving the lives of their carers by freeing them up to evacuate themselves. Further advantages include the fact that they’re relatively inexpensive, quicker to dispatch and have a lower carbon footprint. However, the integration of medical airlift eVTOLs can only be approved with dedicated infrastructure in place to enable airspace prioritization and deconfliction.

UAS software and evacuations 

When using UAS to plan and execute large-scale evacuations, dedicated software is required to manage the scope of the mission. Orion DFM has demonstrated its effectiveness as a management tool for evacuations with capabilities covering all elements of these operations: mapping, search and rescue, camera and loudspeaker control, AI-powered crowd counting, medical deliveries and general site security and oversight.

At the same time, the services of the Vega Hub could serve as an enabler of medical eVTOLs by providing the digital infrastructure needed to keep them safe. Vega UTM provides complete airspace awareness and strategic and tactical deconfliction, Vega Fly provides a red tape-free pilot registration and flight approval system, and Vega CIS provides the geo-awareness tools necessary for airspace managers to enable safe operations in shared airspaces.

Evacuations are an essential element of the management of any facility or city. We’re proud to say that High Lander solutions provide a complete answer to this need, from planning and compliance to real-time execution. For more information, get in touch to book a free demo.