As the respective
governments of Andhra
Pradesh and Odisha prepare
for the impending cyclone
Phailin, which is expected to
hit their shores on Saturday
evening, search engine giant
Google has voluntarily set
up a Crisis Response team to
assist the governments in
rescue & rehabilitation of
cyclone victims."Google has
come forward to offer their
help. We are coordinating
with them. It will help us
collect information
concerning the victims of
the cyclone and track their
status," said Andhra Pradesh
minister for Information
Technology and
Communications Ponnala
Lakshmaiah.Google has
launched a 'Person Finder'
to help those displaced by
the storm to reconnect with
their families. It is an open
source software that allows
individuals to post and
search for the status of
relatives or friends affected
by a disaster. Google is also
working with Airtel to see if
they can send an SMS blast
to all users alerting them of
the cyclone.The firm is
launching a crisis map,
which would mark the
shelters, power outages and
other resources.The crowd-
sourced map will display as
to the points where the
cyclone has hit. It also has a
list of helpline numbers. As
the search engine giant does
not have enough sources
concerning the location of
the relief camps set up, they
have appealed to the
concerned governments
seeking their help on the
same.The maps have been
set up by netizens who call
themselves 'digital
humanitarian volunteers' or
so called CrisisMappers. The
online volunteers along
with on-the-ground relief
mates from different places,
including volunteers of
StandBy Task Force,
OpenCrisis, Info4Disasters,
and several university
students are working on the
map.The 4-level category
storm, cyclone Phailin, is
supposed to be approaching
the shores at 235 km an
hour. The US navy
forecasters have warned of
even more menacing winds
at 315 kph and wave height
of 54 feet. The Global
Disaster and Alert
Coordination System
(GDACS), has rated this
event as a red alert, high
humanitarian impact based
on the maximum sustained
wind speed.The cyclone,
which will also raise sea
level up to three metres, is
expected to flood low-lying
areas of Ganjam, Khurda,
Puri and Jagatsinghpur
districts of Odisha and
Srikakulam district of
Andhra Pradesh and
extensively damage the
agricultural crops.The AP
government is also
coordinating with the
telecom service providers to
ensure 24/7 connectivity.
They have already alerted
527 fishermen villages and
of all the 22,997 boats
except two boats that were
in the sea have returned to
shore. The IT department is
also ensuring that video-
conferencing will be
available 24/7 in all
government departments to
ensure a flow of
communication.
Source - http://www.techgig.com
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