## 1 Introduction  
Due to its geographical location, Mexico is vulnerable to different natural phenomena that can cause catastrophes. The Mexican territory is on five tectonic plates: the Caribbean, Pacific, North America, Rivera, and Cocos. The mobility of these plates causes friction forces that prevent the displacement of one concerning the other, sometimes causing a violent rupture and releasing accumulated energy; this phenomenon is known as an earthquake [1, 2, 3]. More than 100,000 seismic movements have occurred in recent years, of which 19 are classified at a magnitude between six and nine degrees on the Richter scale [4]. Given these facts, government actions have focused on informing and training the population through civil protection programs. The Mexican government and higher education institutions (GHEIs) have a civil protection program [5; 6], which details the actions that must be carried out before, during, and after a disaster. The Mexican civil protection program includes brigades, which are comprised of people responsible for activating the actions within the prevention, aid, and rescue subprograms [5; 6]. At least two institution elements compose the brigades, and there are four brigades: (1) evacuation, (2) search and rescue, (3) first aid and prevention, and (4) firefighting [5; 6]. During the earthquake, the relief subprogram is activated where the following actions are carried out by people and brigades [7; 8]: Stay away from windows and objects that could fall, locate the personnel of the evacuation brigade, lead the staff along the established route to the security zones, check that the institution is fully evacuated, and organize and control the personnel in the security zones. On the other hand, the recovery subprogram is activated after an earthquake, involving the following activities [7; 8]: conducting a census of evacuees in security zones, identifying missing individuals, and locating and rescuing potential victims. These activities are generally performed manually, leading to the following drawbacks:  
* Regarding the census of evacuees and missing individuals, this activity involves conducting a roll call of people in security zones using a printed format and compiling a census. Additionally, a report on absent academic staff and students is generated. This process requires an up-to-date list of students and faculty present on the premises at the time of the event. Since it must be carried out in each security zone within the institution, the time required is proportional to the number of academic staff. * The procedure for locating and rescuing potential victims begins by determining the absent person's designated work area and searching for them there. If they are not found, the responsible brigade proceeds to check common areas. A major challenge in this process is the delay in locating individuals, particularly in institutions with multiple buildings, which can even result in loss of life due to a late response. The total time for these activities should not exceed 20 min. This research aims to support the management and coordination of activities carried out by individuals and members of evacuation, search, and rescue brigades before, during, and after an earthquake at GHEIs. The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in emergency situations enhances the response times, improves the effectiveness and efficiency of action protocols, and optimizes the coordination of the involved personnel [9]. Most individuals have access to ICT through mobile devices, with smartphones being the most prevalent [10]. Several studies [11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25] have proposed smart mobile distributed systems (SMDSs) for managing emergency cases (EC) such as earthquakes, each offering different characteristics and functionalities.