Hacking for Nepali Earthquake Relief

Nepali computer programmers coding for disaster relief efforts

September 27, 2011- In response to a 6.9 earthquake that hit Nepal last week, local Nepali programmers came together for a “hackathon” this past Sunday at CHAA’s Oakland office. For people that may not know, Wikipedia defines a hackathon as "a hacker neologism,  an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming. The spirit of a hackathon is to collaboratively build programs and applications. Hackathons are typically between several days and a week in length. A hackathon refers not simply to one time hacks, but to a specific time when many people come together to hack on what they want to, how they want”.

This particular hackathon addressed the issues of how to centralize information so people in situations involving natural disasters are not in a panic due to lack of information and access to resources. Bijay, a computer programmer who was giving up hours of his computer expertise to the hackathon spoke about what participants were hoping to accomplish that day. Bijay spoke of efforts to open a Google portal, to figure out a web domain name for their disaster relief project and pointed to a Google app called “Google disaster” that the Google company set up in response to the recent tsunami in Japan.  This disaster app includes setting up a section called “People Find” where anyone can upload notices and photos of people who are missing during national disasters ,  as well as setting up pictures of people who have been ‘found’.  The app enables people on the ground to immediately use SMS to take photos or relay information through text messages, even before official relief efforts from agencies or government entities may occur.

Nisha Thapa (second from right)  setting up a conference call with experts

Outside of addressing post disaster efforts, these apps also assist in disaster preparedness efforts in a place like Nepal, a country that lies directly on a fault line.  Preventative efforts such as utilizing crowdsourcing  (outsourcing tasks to crowds or the public instead of to groups of experts) to identify local buildings that appear to be in danger of collapse if a quake were to occur and sending pictures of the buildings to a website,where collections of pictures could be sent to governments in efforts to retrofit unsafe buildings are one the ways that people on the ground can work together to bring about changes that may save many lives.

The CHAA office was buzzing with typing, debates and discussions.

Nepali programmers were working to create an interactive map of Nepal, an online donation box, a newsfeed as well as integrating twitter into the site.

After observing the hackers working away on their program, a conference call began in the main CHAA conference room, where medical experts weighed in with their ideas on disaster preparedness.

Hackers or computer programmers are usually not seen as human rights activists, but they can often be one and the same. There are quite a few collections of hackers  online who use their technological skills in the name of human rights. People may not be familiar with Hackathons, but this kind of event may very well be an effort that can save dozens, hundreds and perhaps even thousands of lives one day, as technology and communication surge forward throughout the world.

Click here to see photos of the Hackathon

Photographs by S. Nadia Hussain

Posted by S. Nadia Hussain