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Modern Geomatics Technologies and Applications

Determining the number of rescuers in post-earthquake rescue operations using the
agent-based modeling (case study: Tabriz city)
1 2,* 2
Navid Hooshangi , Navid Mahdizadeh Gharakhanlou , Ali Asghar Alesheikh
1 Department of Surveying Engineering, College of Earth Sciences Engineering, Arak University of
Technology, Daneshgah St., Arak, Iran
2 Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, No. 1346,
ValiAsr Street, Mirdamad cross, Tehran, Iran
*navid_mehdizade@email.kntu.ac.ir

Abstract: After a natural disaster such as an earthquake, the number of rescuers in the search and rescue
(SAR) operation plays an important role in saving the residents of the area. Understanding the
environment's crises as well as determining the number of rescuers are complex and difficult due to the
influence of different factors. The main purpose of this research is to determine the number of rescuers in
post-earthquake rescue operations. Regarding the limited research in this field, the novelty of this paper is
the use of the agent-based modeling (ABM) to determine rescuers number in the city of Tabriz. To
implement this research, firstly a 7-magnitude earthquake on the Tabriz North Fault was simulated and
the number of destroyed buildings was determined as well as the number of the injured people. Then, the
rescue operations were simulated for victims, search, rescue, medical, hospital and central agent, and
different scenarios were implemented for different number of agents. In case of happening a 7-magnitude
earthquake, the results of this research indicated that 63.8% of existing buildings were completely
destroyed and unhabitable, and the rate of fatalities was obtained approximately 28.5%. Based on the
results of this research, to save the injured individuals in 48 hours, the city needs at least 65000 groups for
each group of search and rescue, 30000 medical group and the capacity of hospitals must be increased
600%. Besides, the minimum number of rescuers required in urban planning for post-earthquake SAR
operations was calculated. The results of the model demonstrated the high capability of the ABM in
simulating environment's crises.

Keywords: SAR operation, Earthquake, Building Vulnerability, Number of Injuries, Agent Based Modeling (ABM).

1. Introduction
Various factors including unknown risk, improper crises management, and vulnerable buildings can lead to
increase human casualties in the event that earthquakes happen [1]. After happening natural disasters (e.g.,
earthquake, flood, and etc.), the number of rescuers is of the great importance in rescuing people [2]. The first 48
hours after an earthquake have the greatest impact on rescuing people, so the speed of rescue operations is
extremely important. The speed of rescue operations depends on various factors and is directly related to the
number of rescuers.

In Iran, due to the high population of cities as well as the economic circumstances, hiring people in the form
of the Iranian Red Crescent Society is practically impossible. Therefore, in order to provide rescuers in the future
natural disasters, especially earthquakes, the "home durability and safety" project has started to operate as a public
institution. The home durability and safety is a non-governmental and voluntary organization whose main
concentration is maintaining the preparedness and safety of the city and citizens in case of facing accidents in the
neighborhood scale [3]. Determining the minimum number of aid workers and distributing them in different
groups (e.g., search, rescue, medical, and etc.) can be useful in setting the right goals for these projects. The city
of Tabriz is one of the earthquake-prone cities in Iran due to its location between several faults and has been

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