Space Apps Challenge 2018

Every year, millions of people are affected by natural disasters. These may be explosions, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornados or wildfires. In such a critical moment, victims face injury and even death…

14 million were displaced, 2 million died due to natural disasters last year.

800 000 deaths due to earthquakes between 2000-2015

140 000 deaths due Storm surge (Myanmar May 2008)

56 000 deaths due heatwave (Russia July 2010)

www.statista.com

280 000 deaths due to Tsunami Indonesia 2004

www.livescience.com

In 2011, Japan knew one of their worst Disasters, the Tohoko earthquake and tsunami caused 360 billion USD in total financial damages, its causalities reached approximately 16.000 deaths and 6.000 injured and 2.500 yet missing till now.

2/3 of the victims were unprepared for such a disaster due to late warnings sent by the earthquake early warning 1 minute before it occurs in Tokyo.

Last summer, California forests recognized unexpected wildfires that have burned an area of a 1.5 million acres. These fires caused over 3 billion USD of damage, thankfully there were no deaths however 14 persons have been badly hurt.

Recently our home country Tunisia faced one of the worst Disaster it has ever seen too this autumn. The recent rainfall caused a rise in the water levels of streams, cutting of several roads and causing 22 deaths, 89 injured and 310 families displaced over the central, north east and west areas. Adding to that, this disaster lead to a large amount of financial, infrastructural, agronomical, and private properties damages that made our citizens go homeless, in a struggle of basic needs, certain grief, with lack of transport and education.

According to a study conducted by the geographic institute in Belgrade in 2013

through a survey:

Only 12% responded correctly during the time of an earthquake

60% are not even aware that their reaction was wrong while crisis

How to face that catastrophe then?

Luckily the UN has an answer, according to it the most effective way to reduce risks and limit damages is by following the "increasing preparedness + decreasing vulnerability" approach.

As a matter of fact, it has reduced death rates caused by floods in Mozambique by 99.97%.

Well, that’s why we took this as an opportunity to create a mobile application called “Survival guide” that could be in reach of everyone.

Our App has 3 main tablets, each one contains one main feature:

Alerts:

A simple method to notify people in danger zones.

Issued by national authorities / authorized websites.

User's location is determined either manually or by granting GPS access to the app.

Alerts can be received using Bluetooth Mesh Network in case of internet loss.

Checklists:

different surprises need different strategies, that's why our app provides multiple check-lists for divergent disasters.

authorities provide/regularly update clear easy to use/understand instructions, however users can customize them.

Disabled-friendly

Status:

Disasters do happen almost everywhere and being well informed about the disaster plays a crucial role in determining the needed supplies/equipment.

Sustainability:

An important role in an advanced ecosystem:

Additional features / content to help during disasters (sending GPS coordinates of shelters to map apps / displaying reminders on smart mirrors or ordering security cameras to record ).

Photo / Video sharing for providing training and raising awareness.

App can be easily adapted for use on different gadgets (Smart watches..).