How can tech aid disaster management?

In a year, the USA can experience a multitude of disastrous events that can lead to devastation across the country. Disaster management technology can come to the rescue, not only responding to emergencies and disasters when they happen but preparing communities, by educating them on the best ways to prepare. One of the most effective ways we’ve seen this done is with a mobile app.

When disaster strikes, apps can save lives.

As climate change has rapidly become one of the world’s biggest problems, global organisations, passionate individuals and sustainable nations have all come together to combat the negative impact we’re having on our environment. Which is why the concept of disaster preparedness is so vital now more than ever. But what exactly is disaster preparedness and why is it so important? The IFRC describe it best by saying:

As climate change worsens, so do the frequency of these catastrophic events. So all of us at 3 Sided Cube have been passionate about getting technology into people’s hands that not only helps them prepare for, but respond to and recover from such an event.

Mother nature can be devastating.

Our dedicated team of Cubies in the UK know this and work tirelessly to make sure our platform and suite of apps are constantly ready to respond should disaster strike. It’s a responsibility the entire team takes very seriously and a project I have been really proud to be a part of all these years. And I gotta say, as much as I have always appreciated the enormity of the life saving tools our apps provide, now living in the USA and depending on those very apps to keep my family and I safe, I see the absolute necessity of technology like this being reliable and easily accessible to those who need it most.

I’ve had the American Red Cross Emergency App on my phone for years, but never needed it, until I moved across the pond. I can’t stress enough how much I appreciate having the safety blanket of this app. Having woken up to a few disaster alerts, I’ve truly appreciated the comfort the emergency app brings. Nothing gets your heart racing more than seeing that alert pop up, but because I know it’s there I can sleep well knowing my family will have that life-saving alert should disaster strike!

Every year there are about 354 natural disasters globally, and of those disasters, about 210 million people are affected. Which is just a staggering number! Made even more so by the fact that an average of 68,000 people lose their lives in disasters every single year. 

That number is heartbreaking in itself, but the good news is, that number is reducing! Throughout history, statistics show that number has been steadily decreasing in the last century. It’s no coincidence that is happening the same time that technology is advancing. We can’t stop these high impact, low-frequency events from happening, but we can minimise the number of people that lose their lives because of them.

There are four key stages to disaster management as you can see from the graph below, however our work concentrates on three areas. Which are:

• Preparedness
• Response
• Recovery

Some work that we have been able to do in this area, is providing an app for the American Red Cross to help mitigate the effects of disasters, the Emergency App we built for them does just that. As we have all seen year after year, hurricane season can be brutal, the devastation and lives lost is just unimaginable. 

What we have done with the app is to give people a tool to be alerted and kept safe. Based on what we have seen from the number of people that have downloaded and use the app, there is a huge need for this kind of technology. Last year alone, 443,000+ disaster alerts were sent out throughout hurricane season!

The way that it works is that when a hurricane is due to hit, the app will alert the user that there is a potential danger, and American Red Cross can inform them exactly what they need to do to stay safe. It happens instantaneously and contextually to where the person is at that given moment. Hurricane’s are unpredictable, and this allows for the applicable information to be at someone’s fingertips in the face of uncertainty.

Keeping people safe and informed of the constantly evolving threat, and where to access that valuable emergency aid, if needed, is the biggest impact we could hope to make.

This is so important because unlike disasters in decades past, where survivors had to wait days or weeks for any information, they can now use technology to quickly get their bearings on the situation. It is very easy to prepare the prepared, but that isn’t enough. That is why we are working to develop an app with Replus Connect that  leverages human networks, data, and machine intelligence to close the last-mile disaster relief delivery gap and build long-term resilience for underserved communities.

Through a mobile application, they can inform and coordinate collective action across residents, community groups, and humanitarian aid organizations to direct the right responses to the right places at the right time. 

Their solution is an app that enables users to:

Mobilize

Bring residents, local community groups, and humanitarian aid organizations together in one networking platform.

Assess

Crowdsource information on community needs and available resources with actionable insights tailored to user groups.

Coordinate

Facilitate resource allocation and coordination based on community needs, powered by machine and human intelligence.

Report

Track resource allocation and streamline reporting on relief efforts to build trust and demonstrate impact.

Through a mobile application, they can inform and coordinate collective action across residents, community groups, and humanitarian aid organizations to direct the right responses to the right places at the right time. 

Thanks to significant innovation in tech, there are tons of digital solution offerings to sectors that, up until recently, lacked access to technology. The speedy pace of this change shows us that one of technology’s most meaningful benefits for society could lie in the humanitarian sector.  Which means it has to be able to which  reach large numbers of people, in remote and dangerous locations, to provide critical resources fast and efficiently.

From aerial robotics to big data analytics, technology presents the opportunity to expedite the impact of humanitarian relief efforts with better efficiency and responsiveness. This would enable us to reach more people sooner, and save more lives.

As we fine-tune disaster preparedness technology the reach of lives saved grows with each advancement. Here are four ways technology can help us respond to disasters:

1. Technology can go where people cannot and where rescue efforts puts the lives of responders at risk
2. Technology breaks down barriers to enable connectivity when we need it most
3. Mobile solutions, social media and digital communities provide a new way for organizations and their beneficiaries to communicate
4. Big data analytics creates a new era of intelligence for disaster response

We want people to have access to and utilize this key information before disaster comes knocking at their door. If this blog just made a few more people aware of how vitally important preparedness is, then my job is done!

If you have an idea for life-saving technology, get in touch. We’d love to build tech for good together!