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In 2024, we saw extreme weather and natural disasters from floods and hurricanes, to wildfires and earthquakes.
The impact and effects can be devastating, and there’s usually very little anyone can do to stop the inevitable force of nature.
This is where disaster management technology can come to the rescue! It can help educate communities on the best ways to prepare, and aid in responses to emergencies and disasters as they happen.
If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry!
We’ll be sharing our expertise and delving into the 9 app features we believe make a difference during a crisis!
Ready to reveal all? Jump straight into our new report "Disaster Management: 9 App features that save lives".
Apps Saving Lives
‘What kind of expertise?’ I hear you ask…
During the 10+ years we’ve worked with disaster preparedness and management organisations, we’ve had first hand experience of the impact apps can truly have.
The sheer number of lives they have the potential to save is incredible!
One of the best examples is the American Red Cross Emergency App we developed in 2015.
Emergency has been put to the test during the worst natural disasters. But thankfully, many lives have been saved because of the Red Cross relief workers shelters, and the Emergency app that people were relying on.
You can find out more about the project here!
And our experience doesn't stop there!
We've also worked on projects with Project Groundwater, the Global Disaster Preparedness Centre, and the Greater Caribbean Climate Mobility Initiative.
All of these projects aim to utilise technology to help educate people, help them prepare, and save lives.
Features That Save Lives During Natural Disasters
Now it's time for the features:
Building a resilient and robust platform,
Using external data sources,
Using maps that track natural disasters in real-time,
Localising content, information and services,
Making people your biggest asset,
Preparing app users with advice on disaster preparedness,
Optimise your in-app content
Planning for evacuations and emergencies,
Monitoring locations and specific hazards,
Building a resilient and robust platform
The last thing you need during a crisis is for the app you rely on to crash. That’s why keeping the life-line alive is by far THE most important thing to do!
When disasters hit it’s obvious to say that traffic to your app will increase, but when hundreds of thousands of people are relying on your app to help them, the pressure can get intense and often too much for many servers to handle.
A live app keeps people alive!
Using external data sources
Obviously, data is extremely important when it comes to disaster management. Think about things like weather, users or location-based information.
In the case of disasters, incorrect data can lead to life-threatening situations.
To make sure that the information your app is providing is as accurate as possible, use a range of data sources. A few of these sources include:
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Using maps that track natural disasters in real-time
What question would you ask if I told you that a tornado is going to hit soon?
If ‘how soon?’ Isn’t your first, it must be a close second.
Having the ability to track disasters in real-time means that you can know when and where the disaster is going to hit. Especially with unpredictable natural disasters that can change direction in minutes.
And this isn’t just the ‘eye of the storm’ either, there are many other hazards that follow disasters such as flooding and power cuts.
Offering multiple map views for free that show data like wind speed, rainfall, and cloud coverage, is a key reason for engagement. The Emergency app shows users these maps, providing data without additional interpretations.
Having this data means that users can draw their own conclusions, reassuring the majority of users and providing context for more mistrustful users.
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Localising content, information and services
Translating an app for users in different locations is often as far as developers will go.
You’d think this was an obvious feature that’s easily covered, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Even within countries that speak the same language, things like terms, phrases and information can be completely different.
For example, emergency service numbers can vary. The last thing you’d want during a disaster is to hit the emergency services button and not get through.
Making sure your app is easy to use and easy to understand for everyone, it will make sure the disaster preparedness app can save lives when it matters the most.
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Making people your biggest asset
Your users can be one of your most valuable sources.
We used to harness chained crowdsourcing, but that feature has seen an upgrade! Citizen science allows you to gather or analyse data by involving the public.
We can’t predict the unpredictable.
Historical data is becoming more and more unreliable for predicting the extreme events we are seeing, so people play a key role in identifying early warning signs.
They may not be disaster management experts by profession, but your users have the best local knowledge!
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Preparing app users with advice on disaster preparedness
Imagine hearing the sound of a hurricane siren… How terrifying must it be to KNOW that a disaster is about to hit and that you and your family are in immediate danger.
What’s worse than that?
Not being prepared.
Over the years, people and communities have shared and learnt a number of ways you can prepare for a hurricane. It’s this education and understanding which has arguably been the biggest life-saver.
And now technology allows us to do the same thing on a vastly larger scale!
That’s why it's so important that even before disaster strikes, disaster management apps should include advice on what to do so that people know how they can prepare.
This could be as a:
Survival game
Fact file
Quiz
As long as people are engaged and learning, it’ll save lives.
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Optimise your in-app content
On the topic of content, have you ever heard of Jakob's law?
It’s the idea that users' expectations of how your app will perform is based on the other apps they use.
So, with the rise of TikTok and other short-form content, your disaster management app can also use formats that are similar!
No matter how informative it might be, you can’t use big walls of text.
Instead, use simple language in shorter, more engaging content formats for better understanding.
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Planning for evacuations and emergencies
What's the best way to plan an evacuation?
We don’t blame you for not having an answer… We probably wouldn’t have one either. There are so many different factors.
But in the worst case scenarios, which are often all too real, you might have to face evacuating your town in order to get to safety before a disaster strikes.
Worse yet, picture having to evacuate your home in the middle of a disaster. Definitely not “plan A” but if your home is being devastated and is no longer safe, you don’t have a choice.
That’s why in times like these, being able to check your location on a real map really does save lives. That way you can have an evacuation plan in place so that if the worst does happen, you can get to your nearest emergency shelter as quickly and safely as possible.
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Monitoring locations and specific hazards
How do you know that disaster is about to strike?
The simple answer - you can’t.
Unfortunately we’re yet to develop a sixth sense in our biology that alerts us when we’re in immediate danger.
Luckily, apps are a great substitute while we wait for evolution to kick in!
Emergency alerts save lives by letting people know when they need to get to a safe area, or prepare themselves for the hazards that they will be experiencing imminently.
We now have the technology to send even more granular, tailored alerts! Instead of broad FIPS codes (the American system for identifying geographical areas), we can use more specific locations.
Receiving an alert that you’re in immediate danger is a terrifying concept to think about. But the more specific and relevant, the better!
And imagine how grateful you’d be to have even a few extra minutes to get prepared.
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Let's recap...
Disaster management apps provide the opportunity to save countless lives in the face of natural disasters.
With the right steps, and the right features, we can innovate the way people prepare for, deal with and recover from catastrophes.
Making a social impact on a global scale is not something that either app developers or disaster management organisations can achieve alone.
We need to come together, discuss, and feedback on our ideas and innovations to save as many lives as possible!
If you're hungry to learn more, you can download the full report "Disaster Management: 9 App features that save lives" straight to your inbox!
Bonus: Mapping the impact of natural disasters
For one of our Innovation Time projects, our Engineering Manager Kev turned our disaster management platform into an interactive map, building a real-time visualisation of natural disasters all around the world.
Published on 17 December 2024, last updated on 17 December 2024
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