Henan Flood Rescue: These "High-Tech" Tools Prove Indispensable

Since the heavy rainfall struck Henan, high-tech rescue equipment such as Yilong drones, emergency powered pontoon bridges, and satellite phones have proven invaluable in disaster relief efforts.

Drones have brought communication signals to the hardest-hit areas.

"Dear residents of Mihe Town, due to the severe rainstorm causing communication disruptions, the Ministry of Emergency Management has urgently dispatched Wing Loong drones to your town, temporarily restoring China Mobile's public network communications. However, given the limited endurance of the Wing Loong drones, the public network will remain operational for only 5 hours. Please report your situation and reach out to your families as soon as possible. Wishing you all safety! — China Mobile." This was a text message sent late on July 21 by China Mobile to users in Mihe Town, Gongyi City, Henan Province.
Mihé Town in Gongyi City, Henan Province, was one of the areas severely hit by the disaster. Power and internet outages left the town cut off from the outside world for a time. On July 21, Zhang Yu (pseudonym), a resident of the town, received a text message from China Mobile just as she and her husband were preparing to brave the rain in search of their daughter, who had ventured out and hadn’t yet returned home. "For the first time, I realized how heartwarming even a simple text message could be—it felt like the entire world had suddenly lit up." After successfully reaching their daughter and confirming everyone was safe, Zhang Yu quickly checked Weibo and immediately helped other relatives and friends in the town post urgent pleas for help. "Those five life-saving hours truly kept us alive!"
On the same day, the Wing Loong drone flew for 16 hours, traversing across regions from Anshun, Guizhou Province, to the communication-disrupted area in Mihe Town, Gongyi City, Henan Province. It successfully restored communication in Mihe Town at 11:30 PM on July 21 and again at 1:54 AM on July 22, enabling residents in the disaster-hit region to make phone calls and report their safety. It is reported that the Wing Loong large-scale, long-endurance drone-based emergency communication system leverages a high-altitude fixed-wing drone equipped with a China Mobile wireless communication base station, utilizing advanced 4G/5G communication technology and satellite transmission. Once the drone ascends to its designated altitude, it effectively creates a temporary "base station tower," freeing itself from reliance on ground-based power supplies and conventional communication backhaul systems. This innovative approach allows for rapid establishment of seamless communication links between command centers and targeted disaster zones—making it an invaluable tool for ensuring communication resilience during natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides.
On the morning of July 22, the Ministry of Emergency Management received a report from Zhengzhou's fire department stating that all base stations near Fuwai Huaxin Cardiovascular Hospital in Zhongmou County had lost power, with water surrounding the area—making it impossible for emergency communication vehicles to reach the site. At 1:36 p.m. that same day, the Wing Loong large, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, equipped with a China Mobile wireless communication base station, once again took off from Anshun Airport in Guizhou Province, heading toward Zhengzhou City to provide critical network support for the hospital's rescue operations.

Emergency motorized pontoon bridges establish lifeline transfer routes.

On July 22, the flood situation in Weihui City, Xinxiang, Henan Province, escalated, leaving over a thousand residents trapped in Qiandaoxiang Village and Houdaoxiang Village, Andu Township. That evening, professional rescue teams from China Aneng Group Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "China Aneng"), equipped with 30 sets of advanced gear—including emergency powered pontoon bridges and all-terrain amphibious rescue vehicles—rushed from the disaster relief site in Zhengzhou to Niuchang Village, Dunfangdian Township, Weihui City. They worked through the night to set up the emergency powered pontoon bridge, ensuring the timely evacuation of the stranded residents.
After a night of intense effort, two 40-meter-long, 8-meter-wide motorized pontoon bridges were successfully deployed. Each bridge can travel at speeds up to 10.8 kilometers per hour, carrying a full load of 450 personnel while enabling rapid waterborne mobility. The emergency motorized pontoon bridges are manufactured by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Emergency Early Warning & Rescue Equipment Co., Ltd., earning them the nickname "aircraft carrier of rescue." These bridges feature two primary operational modes: one involves linking multiple river pontoons with two shore-based pontoons to create a belt-shaped floating bridge, capable of supporting vehicles weighing up to 60 tons (if tracked) or 13 tons (if wheeled)—as long as axle pressure remains below that threshold—across rivers and streams. The other mode sees several river pontoons and shore-based units assembled side by side to function as a temporary ferry bridge, effectively serving as a mobile crossing point for boats and barges.
In Xinxiang, rescue workers assembled three river boats and one shore-based boat into a temporary pontoon bridge—known as the Cao Du Men Bridge—setting up two such structures in total. Each bridge, once fully deployed, measures 40 meters long and 8 meters wide, with a 5-meter-wide vehicle lane, capable of supporting a combined load of up to 65 tons. On the morning of July 25, news arrived from Hebi, Henan Province, indicating that the critical moment had arrived in efforts to seal the breach along the Wei River near Peng Village in Xinzhen Town. The emergency powered pontoon bridge—a vital asset that played a major role in evacuating trapped residents in Xinxiang—also made its way to the sealing site. "Here in Hebi, our primary task is to operate the emergency powered pontoon bridge to transport engineering equipment for sealing the breach," explained Lan Yanming, Senior Project Manager at China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Emergency Early Warning & Rescue Equipment Co., Ltd., to a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network. "We’re also moving materials like sandbags and other supplies essential for closing the gap. Even inflatable assault boats and rubber rafts can be loaded onto the bridge, making it an indispensable tool in this operation." Lan added that the use of emergency powered pontoon bridges dates back to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, when they were initially deployed to relocate just over 100 people at a time. Today, however, these advanced vessels can easily handle the transfer of more than 400 individuals in a single mission.

Satellite phones help save more lives.

“Throughout the journey, I never once thought about turning back—I just felt there were still too few places we’d managed to reach,” Yang Meng, a member of China Telecom’s satellite company support team, told our reporter on the evening of July 24th, recalling her late-night experience braving heavy rainstorms to travel across multiple cities in Henan Province and deliver satellite phones. The intense rainfall had caused a total power outage at the He Hospital District of Zhengzhou University First Affiliated Hospital (referred to as “Zhengda Yifu Hospital” hereafter), forcing dozens of surgeries to be halted abruptly. Meanwhile, more than 600 patients in the ICU lost access to vital medical equipment, leaving the situation critically dire. At the same time, ordinary wards faced an urgent shortage of oxygen supplies for many patients, making it imperative to quickly relocate them to safer treatment facilities. However, the complete breakdown of communication signals posed a significant obstacle. Just at this critical moment, China Telecom Henan Company swiftly activated its TianTong satellite service at the He Hospital District of Zhengda Yifu Hospital. Vice President Gou Jianjun of Zhengda Yifu Hospital emphasized that the sudden downpour caught everyone off guard, making it extremely challenging to coordinate the evacuation of the hospital’s entire staff and patients—numbers reaching into the thousands. With conventional communication methods rendered useless, the satellite phones proved indispensable in ensuring seamless coordination and keeping vital lines of communication open during the crisis.
It is reported that, during this flood relief effort, China Telecom Satellite Company urgently deployed 100 TianTong satellite phones, 20 maritime satellite phones, 20 Eutelsat satellite phones, and 1 satellite data terminal to support the disaster-stricken areas in Henan, providing critical backup for rescue coordination. Meanwhile, many residents in regions where signals had been cut off were able to use satellite phones to reassure their families back home. According to information obtained by our reporter from China Telecom, the TianTong-1 satellite system is specifically designed as a narrow-band mobile satellite communication system, offering advantages such as wide coverage, long communication range, and no limitations imposed by geographical conditions—making it an invaluable asset for ensuring emergency communications even under the harshest disaster conditions. "When your regular mobile phone loses signal, simply grab your satellite phone, point the antenna upward toward the satellite, and you’ll instantly regain communication," said Yang Meng.
Currently, satellite phones not only support voice calls and text messaging, but data terminals can also access the internet—enabling users to transmit images from disaster-stricken areas. For instance, rescue teams can send real-time photos of the scene back to command centers, and so on. According to reports, the TianTong Satellite Mobile Communication System is China's first independently developed satellite-based mobile communication system, filling a critical gap in the country's capability for an indigenous satellite mobile communications network. This time, its successful deployment in Henan Province has effectively enabled integrated space-ground emergency communication coordination. (Intern Reporter Wei Wan, Intern Cao Jingkai)

Translated from China Science and Technology Net

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