ISLAMABAD, 28 September 2010 (IRIN) – Innovative mobile phone technologies and applications are poised to help save lives and bring relief to millions of people in Pakistan affected by floods since late July.
To meet the need for timely information, to identify requirements in flood-hit areas and to determine the precise locations of displacement, a portal called Pakreport was set up by a group of individuals soon after the calamity began.
The map on the portal pinpoints areas where assistance is needed and enables affected individuals (and organizations working to help them) to directly report and access information. Information can be sent in by sending an SMS to 3441. The reports are then verified by administrators.
Pakreport.org is not the only initiative of this kind.
US Agency for International Development administrator Rajiv Shah recently invited people during a radio programme to share the latest information and updates on Pakistan flood recovery efforts by SMS-ing the word “FLOODS” to 7111. The “FLOODS” group is available on all mobile phone networks and allows users to join or initiate discussions by sending messages to all group partners. The service, known as Humari Awaz, was launched in October 2009 by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton during a visit to the country.
“We are pleased that Pakistan has a forum for information sharing that people everywhere can use to engage each other in the flood relief effort,” said Shah, according to the US State Department blog. “Information sharing can help connect people to resources to aid in disaster recovery and to engage one another in problem-solving.”
There are 99 million mobile phone subscribers out of a total population of 170 million people, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Mobile phones make sense in a country where the land-based telecommunications network still reaches only a relatively small number of people.
Significant innovations
Maurizio Giuliano, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said Pakreport and other innovations were of significance.
A brief developed by OCHA said humanitarian work had been aided by technologies using satellite data and GIS technologies. “Using their maps, organizations are able to do things such as quickly get an understanding of the spatial aspects of the emergency, understand where relief efforts are being undertaken (or not undertaken), better target their relief efforts, better coordinate with others, and simply have large reference maps for planning purposes.”
Other texting services, including FrontlineSMS developed in the UK to empower small, local NGOs, are also in use.
“We use a range of mediums, including the FrontlineSMS service for our work,” Maria Ahmed, mass communictions team leader at the International Organization for Migration in Islamabad, told IRIN. “There has to be a mix of means used, especially as not many people are literate, so the SMS and other services act as a back up to the other methods we use to access information.”
Shared data
Andrej Verity, an information management officer with OCHA, said he could see a role for his organization and others like the UN Development Programme or the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in working with governments to get a data sharing system established, perhaps first in the most disaster prone countries.
“Imagine if a short code [special four-digit phone number] was already established, the website set up, and processes to handle the information defined [before an emergency]. When something strikes, the people, and government, would know how to use the system – no sales job required. At that point, we would have a great ‘early assessment’ of the situation because people could be SMS-ing almost from time zero. I know that many would be very hesitant to call such an approach an official assessment, but it could be used to help identify what could be the worst affected areas and then organizations could target verification assessment missions in these locations.”
Faisal Chohan, an Islamabad-based technological entrepreneur and innovator and a key member of the Pakreport team, told IRIN: “Pakreport.org provides two kinds of interfaces to interact with the organizations and individuals. It provides them the opportunity to share their data with geo-coding with the outer world openly, and at the same time access information from other organizations.”
The portal is based on Ushahidi software, developed in Kenya to track data and information about people in crisis situations. The word “Ushahidi” means “testimony” in Swahili and the website was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after elections in 2008.
Looking for a breakthrough
Word about the Pakreport map and portal is apparently spreading among flood victims. “I have heard about this website through some NGOs. I may send a message to them if we continue to receive too little help,” Sayed Khan, 32, in Nowshera District of Khyber-Paktoonkhwa Province, told IRIN.
OCHA’s Verity, however, cautions: “Regarding Pakreport specifically: I am not 100 percent sure that Pakreport.org has proven to be as successful as Ushahidi was in Haiti. I believe this is due to the longer delay in getting it set up, the slightly more convoluted texting procedure, and literacy issues.”
Pakreport’s Chohan said a proposal for assistance had been put to all five companies running cellular phone networks in Pakistan. “In Haiti the operators played a very active role in the spreading of the message. We are looking for the same from the operators from Pakistan but still need a breakthrough,” he said.
Currently, word about the work of Pakreport.org is being disseminated through the media, SMS campaigns and relief organizations. More help is being sought from humanitarian organizations to spread the word about the technology.
“It is a wonderful tool, especially in a situation like the one we face,” said Asad Ali, 25, a volunteer working among flood victims in the city of Thatta in Sindh.
On submitting and using information, Pakreport.org says:
“Humanitarian agencies will undoubtedly observe first-hand the current situation and needs in disaster-affected areas. They are urged to upload these observations and valuable information on the portal to ensure that all stakeholders and agencies in the area can benefit from cooperation. Humanitarian agencies can also subscribe to Pakreport.org, receiving verified reports to supplement their own information and to send to their staff.”
On verifying the reports, Pakreport.org says:
“Humanitarian organizations can also help the team to moderate the reports submitted to the portal. This collaboration will help avoid misleading reports from distorting the data.”
