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iPhone keeps buried earthquake victim alive for three days
Medical app, flight mode aids trapped snapper
An American filmmaker trapped under the rubble of his hotel used his iPhone for medical advice, while relying on his SLR for light and paper for recording his last thoughts.
Happily, Dan Woolley was rescued after 65 hours of being trapped after the Haiti earthquake with nothing but a couple of grands' worth of electronics and a notebook for company.
Mobile coverage being patchy following the earthquake, Woolley was lucky to have already downloaded Jive Media's Pocket First Aid & CRP, and was able to treat his wounds with torn clothing. He was also fortunate to have a flash-equipped SLR with which to take photographs in the dark, which he could then review to work on the safest place to be.
Having established that falling asleep would be bad, if he were in a state of shock, he set the iPhone to wake him every 20 minutes.
But when it came to recording his last thoughts, in the belief that rescue was unlikely, he relied on his notebook and pen as he explains:
We have to assume the iPhone was in flight mode, to have achieved such an impressive battery life, though we're not sure we wouldn't have wanted it polling for a signal just in case. ®