Problem statement by - Alok Patnaik
Ex-World Bank Disaster Management, visiting faculty IIT Guwahati
Disasters are becoming a regular phenomenon with FLOODS, CYCLONES, EARTHQUAKE, LIGHTNING, TSUNAMI, LANDSLIDES occurring more and more frequent challenging the humanity. The rescue and recovery actions taken up by the Government of Odisha in the recent Cyclone Fani has been lauded by many. However, a lot has to be done in addressing the URBAN FLOODING, RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE, RELIEF AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT and to mainstream MITIGATION approach in all sectors of the development to make DISASTER RESISTANT. The Hackathon at VSSUT, BURLA invites “solutions” how “TECHNOLOGY” and “SOCIAL” approaches will be able address these issue?
Few key questions are ?
- 1.Resilient Infrastructure for a better tomorrow
- 2.Technology solutions in “Disaster Management” – Relief, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
- 3.How to address and mitigate Urban Flooding
- 4.Technology solutions to address Early Warning and information dissemination
- 5.Flood, Cyclone, Earthquake, Tsunami, Landslide, Lightening
- 6.How to address the challenges to mitigate the impacts of CLIMATE CHANGE
THEME: Monitor crop production across crop life cycles, ensure a decentralised platform to create a transparent ecosystem, handle post-harvest losses and aware consumers of food wastage thus improving their availability and access.
Ranked second worldwide in farm outputs, employing over half of the work force and contributing to 1/5th of the nation’s GDP, agriculture demographically dominates the economic scape of India. Yet, the farmers suffer due to the manipulation of supply and demand verticals and involvement of many middle-men. However, the recent advancements of technology is taking leaps forward to bridge this gap. Come forward to develop solutions that can put the producers on ease to sell their products better as well as accelerate the quality and quantity of production.
Develop solutions referring to (not limited to) the below domains: (Solution domains not included below but serving the theme are encouraged. Use below resources to come up with innovation solutions. Solutions can be both Hardware & Software in nature.)
- -Soil and Crop Sensors to measure soil electrical conductivity, ground elevation, content of organic matter and pH level of the soil. The information will help farmers to grow better crop and respond to various situations. Use of IoT is encouraged.
- -Precision Agriculture to monitor crop production using satellite data & AI. Digitizing to enable data driven farming. Use of Analytics & Data Science is encouraged.
- -E-Marketplace to create a decentralised platform to a) trace commodities from point of origin to market place and entire supply chain & b) accommodating online payment between buyer and seller, product quality check options, and end-to-end logistic services. Use of Mobile Application is encouraged.
Resources:
-http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-agriculture/en/
- https://www.cropin.com/smart-farming/
-https://www.cropin.com/precision-farming/
-https://www.cropin.com/digitalisation-in-farming/
- https://medium.com/icognitive-global/how-agtech-is-transforming-agricultural-roots-33332548bb0c
THEME: Find solutions for disaster management in one of the 3 stages: Pre-Disaster (Disaster Prevention), Disaster Detection, and Post-Disaster (Disaster Recovery)
A year back, category 4 storm Cyclone Fani hit India with a devastating effect in multiple states, especially in Odisha. Doing over a damage of 8.1 billion USD, 89 fatalities were recorded, with 64 in Odisha. The severe storm wreaked damage on Telecom Operators, Educational Institutions, Railway Services etc. The devastation ruled out Telecommunication and Electricity for 2 weeks. There are several other places in the country suffering from frequent natural calamities. The solution can be both preventive (long-term) or remedial (short-term) in nature. The solution however should have a strong economical aspect to it. The emphasis should be on ensuring communication between victims and rescuers by tracking real-time rescue and relief efforts.
Develop solutions referring to (not limited to) the below domains: (Solution domains not included below but serving the theme are encouraged. Use below resources to come up with innovation solutions. Solutions can be both Hardware & Software in nature.)
- -Design apps with the functionality of optimized map for drone reconnaissance missions. The app should be able to classify image. Use of computer vision is also encouraged.
- -Ensuring service distribution of food, water, first aid and medicine in the post-disaster relief phase. Transparency is the key to ensure the efficient use of available resource depending on the urgency of situation.
- -Create a communication link between people who need help and people who can provide help via an application. The use of Blockchain is also allowed to allow for the affected party to broadcast their requirements on the network and allow the rescuers to match using smart contract.
- -Generate heatmaps of affected regions and ensure proper communication for quick evacuation. The system should also be able to track and prioritise rescue operations.
Resources: https://www.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/disaster_management_in_india.pdf