About 80% of Japan local gov'ts have used drones at disaster sites

Around 80 percent of Japan's 47 prefectures and 20 major cities have used drones at disaster sites, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday, underscoring growing recognition of unmanned aircraft as an effective disaster response tool.Momentum for drone utilization has been spurred in part by their role in last year's earthquake that struck the hard-to-reach Noto Peninsula in central Japan, where they delivered supplies to isolated communities and assessed damage from the air.The survey, conducted between May and June, found that 50 local governments used their own drones at disaster sites, whil…READ FULL ARTICLE