Urban search and rescue is a type of technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natural disasters, war, terrorism or accidents, mines and collapsed trenches.
Rescuers with a victim of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
Rescue teams evacuating residents from flooded areas during Hurricane Katrina
One of the Canine rescuers on assignment after the 2013 Colorado floods. Search and rescue dogs can help their handlers be more effective at finding humans in crises.
USAR truck, First Company, Santiago de Chile FD
Structural integrity and failure
Structural integrity and failure is an aspect of engineering that deals with the ability of a structure to support a designed structural load without breaking and includes the study of past structural failures in order to prevent failures in future designs.
Collapsed barn at Hörsne, Gotland, Sweden
The Pyramid at Meidum was the second built by the Egyptians around 2600 BC. It suffered from many structural defects, causing it to collapse during construction and leaving the inner core standing in a pile of rubble, which provided one of the earliest known lessons in large-scale building.
Building collapse due to snow weight
The Dee bridge after its collapse
