OCR Text |
Show avalanches can be subdivided as follows: a) catastrophic avalanches, b) valley avalanches, c) skiing avalanches. All three types of avalanches have their peculiarities, their advantages and disadvantages. Catastrophic avalanches. They usually form a tremendous chaotic conglomeration of snow, buildings, sheds, installations, trees, people and animals. The search operation accordingly works with probe, shovel, cramp irons, saws and axes. Reference points, in the sense of the above- described urgent search areas, are practically non- existent. The best reference points for the search can be obtained from the local inhabitants who knew the exact locations of buildings, sheds, etc. The search mission in a disaster area usually contains an excessive number of men, who prove to be an additional hindrance to the search. Harmonious organizational direction and mission planning in this confusion is the most important and urgent as well as the most difficult task. It must be carried out inexorably and with consistency, if a fiasco is to be avoided. This type of avalanche is an excellent opportunity for the avalanche dog because there exists a good possibility of live rescue. Missions in disaster areas have always provided good search successes for our dogs. A great number of dogs may be employed. Definite mission standards cannot be drawn up here, since disaster missions are so varied that each has to be handled differently. One great advantage of this type of damaging avalanche is the relatively large number of live rescues, since the tangle of girders, furniture, etc., forms many hollow spaces which protect the buried victims, often for days, from suffocation and freezing to death* Valley avalanches. They are characterised by the following properties: a) tremendous dimensions, b) enormous piling up of snow, o) enormous snow compression. - 49 - |