WhatsApp is also used to save lives
It seems that the social messaging network WhatsApp has much more use than just putting us on contact with our friends and family, such as save lives This is what is extracted after two months of use of WhatsApp by the Special Height Rescue Group (GERA) of firefighters in the Community of Madrid, who have been able to easily find hikers and people lost in the mountains up to six times thanks to the functions of said application.
According to the account of Head of GERA, Luis Rincón, on the website iRescate , it all started when we received an alert call from a lost hiker. Not knowing its location made it more difficult to find it. Faced with such a problem, someone suggested if the missing person had WhatsApp The answer was affirmative, and with the function of sending the locationof the user saved a lot of time in his rescue, greatly facilitating the service of the fire brigade.
From that moment they decided to implement this procedure to make things easier for both firefighters and hikers. However, according to the Head of GERA, there is a problem that the users of the application dominate the messaging function , but they don't know the possibilities when it comes to sharing your locationThis has led them to develop an operational procedure to explain to the people who contact them how to use this function and be able to find them more easily and quickly
Its operation is really simple It maintains the same mechanics as the act of sharing photos , although the design of each screen depends on the platform from which we do it. All you have to do is display the share menu where you can find the images, videos and audio, and select Location, which is made up of the map icon In some cases like Android and iPhone , WhatsApp offers the possibility of sending the exact location of our position or nearby placesThe most useful thing in this context would be to share with the phone number of the fire brigade our own location. Of course, it is necessary to activate the GPS or locator of the terminal to specify the point where we are Something that is recommended to practice at home before going out into the mountains to know the procedure and place of the options in advance
According to the Head of the GERA, the best of this function of WhatsApp is your accuracy and immediacy Key issues in the rescue of people. And it only takes us a few seconds to share this information which, in the worst case scenario, entails a margin of error of 15 meters Of course, you have to be aware Keep in mind that not all mountain locations have mobile coverage to share this information, so, appealing to common sense, we should not depend on WhatsApp only in case of going on an expedition or trekking However, it has been proven that it results fromgreat utility in saving lives Something that has not only been demonstrated by the GERA of Madrid, also theLeón Civil Guard managed to rescue a woman several months ago thanks to WhatsApp
