Drones help China safeguard human rights via disaster response, safer jobs

BEIJING, -- After a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Southwest China's Xizang earlier this month, two categories of drones were among the first "rescuers" to arrive at the epicenter.

While Wing Loong-2H, a large fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), flew over a vast expanse of hard-to-access areas in search of toppled houses and trapped people, smaller multi-rotor drones were activated to conduct dragnet searches, deliver supplies and shine torchlight to assist overnight rescue efforts.

The rescue operation saw 407 trapped individuals taken to safety within 24 hours after the quake occurred on the morning of Jan 7. In total, this earthquake killed 126 people and left 337 others injured.

This was the latest instance of China's massive deployment of UAVs in response to a disaster or other dangerous situations -- an initiative praised both for saving lives and protecting rescuers from harm.

"In the past, when emergencies like earthquakes and landslides occurred, we power company workers needed to set up lighting to facilitate nighttime rescue operations, which required arranging wires, erecting poles and hanging emergency lights. The entire process took 1 to 2 hours," said Wang Xia, an engineer with the power supply company of the city of Qianjiang in Central China.

"Now, however, we only need to fly a portable drone equipped with lights. This buys precious time for the rescue," Wang added.

The UAV has made a name for itself in serving China's earthquake rescue efforts since the devastating Wenchuan earthquake of 2008, when drones sent back precious images of quake-hit areas. Technological advances in recent years, combined with falling prices, have resulted in the wider use of UAVs in emergency scenarios.

According to the National Fire and Rescue Administration, Chinese fire fighters have been equipped with 14,586 UAVs, including fixed-wing drones and multi-rotor drones, which have played an "irreplaceable role" in response to wildfires, flooding, earthquakes and other geological disasters.

One key opening the way for their large-scale deployment is China's mature industrial chain for drone components and software, which has significantly brought down drone prices, said Li Zhenxing, secretary-general of the low-altitude economy association of the city of Nanning in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The takeoff of China's low-altitude economy has also endowed drones with more powerful AI algorithms and a wider range of supportive devices -- enabling them to perform tasks including dropping fire-extinguishing bombs and tossing life buoys to people in danger of drowning, Li added.

In September last year, when Super Typhoon Yagi unleashed floods in Nanning, enterprises under Li's association sent 38 drones, equipped with high-definition cameras and infrared thermal imagers, to patrol river bands and search for trapped people.

During China's flood season this summer, the domestically-developed Wing Loong-2H has also served as an airborne communication base, providing signals for an area of about 2,700 square km during its three-day mission in a flood-stricken county in Sichuan province, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

New UAV technologies also featured in high-rise fire drills in several Chinese cities in 2024. A drone developed by a Chongqing-based company demonstrated its ability to spray foam and break windows at a height of 200 meters, while navigating turbulent airflow near the blaze.

PUTTING HUMANS IN CONTROL ROOMS

In addition to helping with emergencies, these devices are liberating Chinese workers from grinding labor and dangerous tasks -- putting them in safer control and monitoring positions instead.

UAV inspection and maintenance of the grid, for instance, has become the norm in many mountainous Chinese provinces.

In Northwest China's Gansu province, a fleet of 1,047 drones has replaced humans in conducting patrols of all the power transmission lines of 110 kilovolts or above. UAV inspections now also cover all electric lines of 35 kilovolts or above in Southwest China's Yunnan province, where most of the lines are located in out-of-the-way mountains.

"Grid failures are often caused by flying objects like plastic bags, kites and balloons. To remove them we used to have to climb high, putting us at risk of both falling and electrocution," Wang said. "Now we operate drones, equipped with fire-breathing devices or robotic arms, to do these jobs."

Wang's team of five workers is responsible for the inspection and maintenance of 686 kilometers of lines in Qianjiang. As many grid poles are located far from main roads, Wang used to have to walk several miles a day in an area where temperatures shoot to above 40 degrees Celsius in summer.

Since 2020, the city of Qianjiang has equipped each rural power supply station with at least one drone, which has made human patrols a thing of the past, while also achieving a four-fold improvement in efficiency.

"To be clear, we have not reduced recruitment or fired people since using drones, because we were severely understaffed in the first place," Wang said. "Now, instead of trekking in mountains, we can sit comfortably in control rooms and monitor patrolling drones."