A concept for optimizing avalanche rescue strategies using a Monte Carlo simulation approach.

ABSTRACT: Recent technical and strategical developments have increased the survival chances for avalanche victims. Still hundreds of people, primarily recreationists, get caught and buried by snow avalanches every year. About 100 die each year in the European Alps-and many more worldwide. Refining concepts for avalanche rescue means to optimize the procedures such that the survival chances are maximized in order to save the greatest possible number of lives. Avalanche rescue includes several parameters related to terrain, natural hazards, the people affected by the event, the rescuers, and the applied search and rescue equipment. The numerous parameters and their complex interaction make it unrealistic for a rescuer to take, in the urgency of the situation, the best possible decisions without clearl

SUBMITTER: Reiweger I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5414947 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature