The 1556 earthquake that killed an estimated 830,000 people in the Shaanxi Province is but the deadliest example of China’s long history with the natural disaster. The 1920 Haiyuan quake killed 273,000; the 1976 Tangshan earthquake claimed about 232,000 lives.

Whether or not they hold to the historic view that earthquakes indicate heaven's displeasure, the modern Chinese aren’t sitting idle as the ground trembles. Starting in the mid-1960s, the country established a system to improve prediction capabilities, response training, and public communications to reduce the impact of calamities. They enlisted satellites to shape post-disaster responses, but since quakes have a habit of knocking out the ground-based systems that deliver their images to those who need them, a view from space isn’t always much help.

So, over the past decade, the Chinese have further honed their post-disaster response strategy with a new kind of high-flying technology: They are using drones to find survivors and navigate disaster zones when time is short and the situation dire.

A New View

Drones are making finding earthquake survivors faster and easier than ever before, says Shang Hong, the technology chief at the country’s National Earthquake Response Support Service. That’s vital work: 90 percent of people located within half an hour live. After 24 hours, the survival rate drops to 81 percent. Wait five days, and it’s just seven percent.

After a quake hits, Shang’s drones take off, flying in hour-long intervals and surveying two square miles per trip. They scan busted buildings and piles of rubble with visible light, infrared, multispectral, and hyperspectral sensors. They relay those time-sensitive data and images to monitoring centers, so response teams can pinpoint, then rush to save, anyone in need.

China’s not the only country using drones for more noble purposes than delivering slurpees and popcorn (as recent trials in the US and UK have done). African nations have pounced on the versatility of UAVs in areas with washed out roads or downed phone lines. Malawi has a ‘drone corridor,’ UNICEF is testing the devices for aerial photos of disaster-hit areas, extending comms like cell signals or WiFi, and transporting lightweight medical supplies. Rwanda is working with Silicon Valley startup Zipline to create the world’s first nationwide drone network, which started delivering blood supplies to remote hospitals last year.

In China, Shang Hong’s drones have already proven their value. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake and its aftershocks—which killed more than 69,000 people and left nearly 18,000 missing—triggered landslides and blackouts, destroying buildings and other infrastructure, cutting off victims from transportation and water supplies. Using UAVs, Chinese responders located downed bridges, collapsed tunnels, and other choke points that could inhibit their rescue efforts. They assessed damage to schools, apartment buildings, hospitals, and other population-dense locations.

When one rescue team’s drone revealed the severity of the traffic jam in which they were stuck, they got out and ran, arriving at the scene earlier than they would have by car. “It can be a very good reference for the deployment of rescue people,” Shang says. And once the immediate danger has passed, the UAVs take off to help with geological mapping, aftershock modeling, infrastructure surveying, and reconstruction planning.

To be useful, drones also have to fit into the complex dance of emergency vehicles that often already buzz a disaster scene. In the US, UAVs flown by local residents and news crews have gotten in the way of aircraft fighting wildfires, prompting calls from the feds for geofencing—programming UAVs’ software to block them from flying into proscribed areas. They’re also a threat around airports. Pilots and air agencies warn it’s just a matter of time before a quadcopter gets sucked into an airliner engine and causes a catastrophe. Regulators around the world are hammering out rules to share the skies, but it’s a sticky question that will take years to resolve.

Crowded Chinese airspace during crisis times also interrupts rescues. During a panel discussion at the China Commercial UAV Summit in Shenzhen in August, Zhihui Lu, chairman of Shenzhen MMC, talked about the crowded airspace in Tianjin after a container storage station exploded last year. Amateur operators, media members, and public administration officials were flying drones in the disaster zone, complicating the job for rescue workers. “It's easier to control the area on the ground. In the air, it's very hard,” Zhihui said. (After a few days, military officials, who run the airspace, instituted restrictions.)

Although UAVs can help in rescue and recovery efforts, technological advancements are needed to strengthen them against the risk of interference, and threats from harsh weather, bacteria, toxic materials, and explosions.

Other tweaks could make them better fit for disaster-related missions. Craig Davidenko, founder of news site Drone Media, stresses the need for communication functions between remote operators and impacted survivors. “We need the ability for an intercom to be integrated so that we can hear people when we're using these devices for search and rescue,” he says.

Drone experts at the UAV summit suggested restricting drone flights in “sensitive” locations, including school zones, urban centers, and government buildings, along with disaster areas. Officials are already working with manufacturers to implement geofencing, so during a crisis, only certified operators with the appropriate frequency pass code would be able to fly in the area.

Another concern is that human involvement leads to human errors. Shang talked about bottlenecks that occur after catastrophes when fatigued staff at monitoring centers are deluged with data and images, causing them to miss vital information. “The next step is trying to figure out how to automate the information,” she said.

All these problems are both solvable and worth solving, considering the capabilities drones offer: to shorten response times, reduce the risk to rescue professionals, and save lives. It’s been more than 1,800 years since Han Dynasty scientist Zhang Heng invented the seismoscope, an instrument to detect earthquakes hundreds of miles away. His 21st century descendants are pushing ahead with the same mission in mind.

Joshua Bateman is based in Greater China. He can be reached @joshdbateman.

Jack Stewart contributed reporting.