IDEA

Earthquakes are a fact of life. Even though we build earthquake-resistant structures and try to predict earthquakes early with new technologies, we cannot fully protect ourselves from disasters. Both the fact that our cities are built very close to or on fault lines, the possibility of new fractures resembling fish bones formed in earthquakes passing under our structures, and finally, our aid organizations that are not healthy and organized, and even their adequacy is questionable, increase our risks of loss of life in earthquake disasters. The aftermath of every medium and large earthquake is still fresh in our memories.

Black Box Systems used in airplanes are systems that record all data whether an accident occurs or not. In the event of an accident, the data in these boxes are examined and they guide the causes of accidents and a series of measures to be taken to prevent them from happening again. Why not use this logic for earthquake disasters? In our geography, which has experienced so many earthquake disasters, while technology and artificial intelligence are so advanced, we thought why not develop a high-tech system for earthquake disaster and its aftermath. While earthquake early warning systems cannot yet give us enough time to transport ourselves to a safe area and the possibility of new fault fractures that may pass under our structures, even if they are earthquake resistant, forces us to think about an alternative system.

This is how the Earthquake Black Box Idea came about.

We had to make such a system;

•  We must constantly monitor and record the vibrations to which our buildings are exposed, with or without earthquakes,


•  Just like early warning systems, it should be able to detect the first vibration of an earthquake and provide warnings to prevent a series of side disasters before the destructive effects reach the structure,


•  It must be robust under impact and pressure,


•  If there has been a major disaster and the building has collapsed, they should be able to find those under the rubble,


•  They should be able to share their data with scientific and aid organizations,


•  In the future, it should be able to generate raw data for the development of new scientific technologies, for early warning systems to give warnings for longer periods of time, for the risks of structures to be seen in advance, and for artificial intelligence algorithms.


•  It should consume very little energy and be environmentally friendly,


•  It should be able to work for at least 72 hours even if the power is cut off,


•  It should be low-cost and budget-friendly.

The Disaster Black Box System has been implemented as a system that incorporates all of the above-mentioned features and utilizes electronics, software, physics, chemistry, geophysics and mechanical engineering at the highest level.

Disaster Black Box System is a system that was first put forward in 2010 as a joint idea of Prof. Dr. Zafer AKÇIĞ and Software Engineer Ahmet ÇAĞLAYAN. Due to the inadequacy of the existing technology, it remained only as a research and development project for 12 years and its theoretical structure was developed. As of 2022, thanks to the developments in electronic technology that can meet the desired conditions, the opportunity to be put into practice has arisen and developed.