With Layers Pressed Room

A “with layers pressed” room occurs when several slide surfaces come down into a room, the walls of which are still standing. The slide surfaces stack up in a steep incline against a wall.

Search: Dogs may be able to locate and alert to people beneath the rubble in hollow spaces. The best place for the search can be the upper side of the rubble, but wind blowing onto the pile means a dog on top may not be able to smell a victim underneath. The dog may need to smell from the sides of the pile or from within the room in which the layers have fallen.

Rescue: To get into the layers, one has to try to find a breakthrough in the transverse walls to the layers. Don’t break through supporting walls. You may have to prop the walls. In some cases you may be able to come in through the top.

Figure 11.19 “With layers pressed” room.

Figure 11.20 From the upper side of the rubble, dogs are able to locate survivors in hollow spaces. For salvage, you may be able to come in through the top or by breaking through the wall that is transverse to the layers.

Figure 11.21 “With layers pressed” room. (Haiti, 2010)

Chipped Room

A chipped room occurs when an explosion or strong vibrations leave the walls of a room standing, but less solid because of damage to important supporting points. The damaged room can contain rubble from the roof and walls.

Search: Be careful going into these rooms, because there is a significant danger of collapse, often without this danger being visible from the outside. In addition, burning rubble piles can cause an accumulation of toxic gases, including carbon monoxide. Going inside can be very dangerous. Because there is usually less rubble in these rooms than in other damaged rooms, the chipped room can often be searched effectively by looking and calling without going in. Let the dog try to catch human odor from the entrance of the chipped room through a door opening or a hole in a wall.

Rescue: Because of the danger of collapse, you should exercise extreme caution when entering, and this can better be left to specialists. This room has to be propped up well before starting the salvage. When you can’t enter these rooms the normal way (via staircases and doors), you can try to organize the salvage with a ladder through a window.

Figure 11.22 Chipped room.

Figure 11.23 Chipped rooms pose a great danger of collapse. Let the dog try to catch human odor from the door opening or a hole in the wall first. The room has to be propped very well before you start the salvage. If entering the room through a door is impossible, try to organize salvage with a ladder or by breaking through the wall.

Figure 11.24 Chipped rooms. (Algeria, 2003)

Barricaded Room

Often occurring in basements, the barricaded room is closed off with rubble preventing the trapped people from getting out. The room is relatively stable, but there is a possibility of suffocation if the room is surrounded by a big mass of rubble.

Search: There can be survivors in rooms that are only barricaded; basements are particularly well known for harboring survivors. Search and rescue dogs can easily locate victims in these rooms. If there are people missing, it is often handy to ask the people who live there or their neighbors if there are rooms like basements, halls, staircases, and so on.

Rescue: If freeing up the entrance is too time-consuming, try to reach the barricaded room via bordering rooms. Make a fresh air vent for survivors as soon as possible. These rooms can eventually function, after clearing them of rubble and checking them, as a sort of emergency department.

Figure 11.25 Barricaded room.

Figure 11.26 Barricaded basement rooms often have survivors. First make a fresh air vent for survivors. Then, if freeing up an entrance is too time consuming, try to get in through bordering rooms.

Figure 11.27 Barricaded basement. (Kaynasli, Turkey, 1999)

Salvaged after Two Weeks

After the earthquake of 1980 in southern Italy, we salvaged a woman from a cellar who was alive after fourteen days in a barricaded room. She was there when the earthquake took place and got blocked in. With the help of food such as sweet peppers and dripping water, she kept herself alive. When, after many days hard work, we reached the distant farm, our dogs alerted to her presence in the barricaded cellar. The odor came strongly to the outside, although the cellar was covered with a thirteen-foot-high (4 m high) debris pile.