Hasta La Gadget!

A blood transfusion might spell the difference between life and death. This is apparent during emergency situations and in the case of accidents where the victims are in danger of bleeding out. But before any transfusions can be done, the patient’s blood type must be verified.

Lab tests can determine this, but the results can take a while. Working with this in mind, designers Efe Erinç Erdoğdu, Rasim Ispirgil, & Mehrafza Mirzazad Barijugh came up with Emertest.

Short for “emergency test,” the conceptual single-use test kit is meant to determine the patient’s blood type at the scene of the accident or while they’re en route to the hospital. It attaches to the patient’s arm much like a leech, and would provide result information in just minutes.

It’s beyond convenient to have a portable test to determine the patient’s blood type, in a similar speed and manner of other ready-to-use tests available today, like pregnancy kits.

As for the technology behind how the Emertest can determine the blood type on its own remains to be seen.

[via Yanko Design]

There are a lot of emergency situations that call for the use of rope. Unfortunately, rope pulley systems aren’t the safest way to go sometimes due to external conditions. Like, say, when there are floods or overflowing rivers and people are trapped on one end. No doubt you’ve seen similar scenarios in movies where the hero clings to the rope and pulls himself to safety on the other side. But regular folks might lose their grip and be swept away by the current.

As an alternative to this, the Air Rope came to be.

It’s essentially an inflatable tunnel that functions as a rope in the sense that it will help you get across certain obstacles without relying so much on your arms. Emergency response people could set up and inflate the tunnel within minutes and have people cross the river by crawling through it instead of using the rope system.

Air Rope is a rescue system that takes the form of an inflated tunnel. It can be used as a thoroughfare across a river when secured to the ground and a tree at each end. A motor and propeller create a powerful flow of air. The air nozzle has a screw-in profile to prevent air leakage. Aluminium alloy, which is light and strong, is used for the metal components.

Air Rope was designed by Lee Jee Won, Lee Juan, and Lee Yong Ho and is a 2013 Red Dot Design Concept Award winner.

Do you have an exit strategy for you and yours in place, should a major earthquake, terrorist attack, or similar large scale disaster occur? You should. And with the help of San Francisco’s new social emergency preparation website, you will.

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We just saw Twitter broaden its use of push notifications for tweets it thinks you might find interesting, and the social network is now also expanding their use for a more serious matter. The company has just announced a new Twitter Alerts feature, which it says will deliver “accurate information from credible organizations” during an emergency or natural disaster. To ensure you don’t miss them, those alerts will be delivered via SMS in addition to a push notification on Android or iOS, and you won’t be getting notifications from just anyone who wants to send them. At launch, only a hundred odd NGOs and governmental agencies in the U.S., Japan and Korea are able to send the alerts, although Twitter says it will be expanding that to include organizations in other countries. You can sign up to receive the alerts by going to an organization’s Alerts setup page; just add “/alerts” at the end of its Twitter URL, or find it on Twitter’s list of participating organizations.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Twitter

Whistles can come in handy during emergencies and natural disasters. They’re especially useful in catching the attention of rescuers who might not be able to see survivors clearly because of the conditions. Unfortunately, not everyone walks around carrying a whistle in their pocket or wearing one around their neck.

The redesigned whistle by Park On-hee, Kim Myeoung-soo, and Jang Young-seo aim to address these problems. Aptly called WHISTLE, it’s a round, ball-shaped whistle that can easily roll into cracks and crevices to reach survivors who might be trapped under rubble.

They’re glow-in-the-dark, so they can easily be spotted by the people who need them – assuming they know what they are.

It is proposed that whistles like these could be dropped or thrown en masse into areas where people might be trapped. It’s definitely a good idea, and we’re not the only ones who think so, as WHISTLE is also a 2013 IDEA Awards entry.

[via Yanko Design]