Case Study: Infinitum Humanitarian Systems achieves faster, more accurate earthquake rescue coordination with what3words

Mexico Earthquake what3words used in the disaster response

what3words is a location technology company that divides the world into 3m x 3m squares and assigns each a unique three-word address. After a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Mexico and neighboring states, responders faced the challenge of coordinating search and rescue where street addresses were destroyed or non‑existent and numeric GPS strings were error-prone or hard to communicate.

To speed and simplify field coordination, the Mexican government and Infinitum Humanitarian Systems worked with what3words and a volunteer data team to convert incoming GPS coordinates for collapsed buildings, trapped people and aid stations into three-word addresses. The human‑readable, offline-capable addresses were shared via the free app, helping teams quickly locate victims and deliver aid — a rapid, practical example of what3words improving disaster response where traditional addresses fail.

Infinitum Humanitarian Systems