Building the India Sahana Cluster

1January ‘10. TISS, Mumbai

http://www.sahanafoundation.org

SahanaSahanaFree & Open Source Free & Open Source

Disaster Management SystemDisaster Management System

Building the India Sahana ClusterBuilding the India Sahana Cluster

Ajay KumarDeveloper

Sahana Software Foundation

“No innovation matters more than that which saves lives”

Avelino J. Cruz, Jr., Secretary of National Defense, Philippines on the use of Sahana deployed in the aftermath of disastrous mudslides in the Philippines



What is Humanitarian FOSS ?What is Humanitarian FOSS ?

“… the ‘application’ of ‘Free and Open Source Software’ to support Humanity”

“… to help thy neighbour” making the software available as an

irrevocable “global public good” to anyone who wishes to use it.

simply the application of Free and Open Source Software to be of support in the Humanitarian Response.



Benefits of HFOSSBenefits of HFOSS

No Discrimination on Access “free” as in “freedom”

Transparent and Trustworthy “open” Low Cost and Local Capacity “free”

you don’t pay for the software Global Reuse and Shared Inter-Org

Development “Open” source development model



The Sahana ProjectThe Sahana Project A web based collaboration tool addresses the common coordination

problems during a disaster finding missing people managing aid managing volunteers tracking camps effectively

Used By Government groups the civil society (NGOs) the victims themselves.



The Historic Trigger: The Historic Trigger: 12/26/04 Indian Ocean 12/26/04 Indian Ocean

TsunamiTsunami• At least 226,000 dead• Up to 5 million

people lost homes, or access to food and water

• 1 million people left without a means to make a living

• At least $7.5 billion in the cost of damages



Problem: Aftermath of Problem: Aftermath of DisastersDisasters

• The trauma caused by waiting to be found or find the next of kin

• Coordinating all aid groups and helping them to operate effectively as one

• Managing the multitude of requests from the affected region and matching them effectively to the pledges of assistance

• Tracking the location of all temporary shelters, camps, etc.



How Can Technology How Can Technology Help?Help?

• Scalable management of information No stacks of forms and files to manage

• Efficient distribution of information Accessibility of information on demand

• Automatic collation and calculation No delay for assessments and calculations

• Live situational awareness Reports are updated live as data is entered





Sahana Core ModulesSahana Core Modules• Organization Registry

Maintains data (contact, services, etc) of groups, organizations and volunteers responding to the disaster

• Missing Persons / Disaster Victim Registry Helps track and find missing,

deceased, injured and displaced people and families



Sahana Core ModulesSahana Core Modules• Request Management

Tracks all requests and helps match pledges for support, aid and supplies to fulfilment

• Shelter Registry Tracks data on all

temporary shelters setup following the Disaster



Deployment ScenarioDeployment Scenario



Sahana Technology and Sahana Technology and FeaturesFeatures

• FOSS• Synchronization• Web Services• Messaging• Localization• GIS & Open Standards:

• KML, WMS, GeoRSS, WFS• EDXL, CAP

• Mobile Accessibility• LiveCD, LiveUSB• Portable App• VM



Sahana DeploymentsSahana Deployments• Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka – 2005• Kashmir Earthquake in Pakistan – 2005• Landslide disaster in Philippines– 2005• Yogjakarta Earthquake, Indonesia – 2006• Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh – 2007• Coastal Storm Plan in New York City – 2007• Ica Earthquake, Peru – 2007• Sarvodaya (NGO), Sri Lanka - 2008• Bihar Floods, India - 2008• Chendu-Sitzuan Province Earthquake, China – 2008• National Disaster Management Center & Ministry of

Resettlement & Disaster Relief Services, Sri Lanka – 2009• Bethesda Hospitals Emergency Preparedness Partnership,

Maryland - 2009• National Disaster Coordinating Council in Philippines – 2009• National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB)

in Indonesia - 2009



Sahana use in PakistanSahana use in Pakistan



Shelter Management for Shelter Management for NYC Office of Emergency NYC Office of Emergency

Management (OEM)Management (OEM)



NYC Sahana Intake Based on NYC Sahana Intake Based on Official Paper FormsOfficial Paper Forms



NYC OEM Situational NYC OEM Situational AwarenessAwareness



RecognitionRecognition• UNESCAP Technical Paper: A Case Study of the Sahana Disaster

Management System of Sri Lanka – 2009• Sourceforge Community Choice Awards Best Project for Government Finalist

– 2009• Communications of the ACM: Revitalizing Computing Education Through

Free and Open Source Software for Humanity - 2009• Disaster Resource Guide Quarterly: New Open Source Software Could

Greatly Improve Federal and State Disaster Relief Operations - 2008• Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme ePrimer: ICT for Disaster

Management – 2007• UNDP IOSN Case Study on Sahana – 2006• Free Software Foundation Award for Social Benefit – 2006• SHG Good Samaritan Award – 2006• BBC Documentary, The Codebreakers – 2006• Sourceforge Project of the Month – June 2006• User Award from Redhat Summit – 2005• ICTA Awards to contributors - 2005



$400 Netbook as Server$400 Netbook as Server



















OpenLayers Integration with Local OpenLayers Integration with Local Open Street Maps Server & Open Street Maps Server &

InSTEDD’s GeoChatInSTEDD’s GeoChat



Remote Data Collection on Remote Data Collection on OLPCOLPC



OpenLayers Integration with Local OpenLayers Integration with Local Google Earth Fusion ServerGoogle Earth Fusion Server



OpenLayers Integration with (Poorly) OpenLayers Integration with (Poorly) Mosaiced and Referenced UAV Imagery of Mosaiced and Referenced UAV Imagery of

the Experimentation Sitethe Experimentation Site



Situational Awareness within Situational Awareness within SahanaSahana



Sahana India ClusterSahana India Cluster Join Here: https://launchpad.net/~sahana-india As a FOSS project everyone is welcome

to contribute :-) Development Domain Expertise Quality Assurance Trained Users Advocacy Deployments Moral Support



Sahana India ClusterSahana India Cluster• Vision:

Act as a common working group with special interest in Sahana deployment & development for India.

• Practitioners – share your experience/requirements

• Academicians• Students/IT Professionals with interest in

application of IT in DM or Humanitarian ICT

• Humanitarian agencies/NGOs etc.• https://launchpad.net/~sahana-india



Sahana India ClusterSahana India Cluster• Practitioners & NGOs share requirements

of Information management systems• Information about existing technologies

they use.• Building requirements and knowledgebase

based on incidents in India• Special interest groups with active student

developers & academicians• General advocacy & adoption of Sahana on

a wider scale in India.



Indic Localisation Indic Localisation • Sahana localised into:

• Hindi• Tamil• Bengali

• Possibility to translate• Other Indian

languages• Instructions available

http://translate.sahana.lk



Resources AvailableResources Available• Project Site: http://sahanafoundation.org• Documentation Portal: http://wiki.sahana.lk

Deployment Case Studies Research Materials User Guides Training Materials Ongoing Development Requirements/Terms of References

• Localisation Portal: http://translate.sahana.lk



Resources AvailableResources Available• Communication:

Mailing List/GroupsoUser Mailing listoDeveloper Mailing ListoHumanitarian-ICT Yahoo Groupo Info/Links available:

http://wiki.sahana.lk/doku.php/dev:mailing_list_policy

Online Chat/IRCo#sahana on irc.freenode.net



THANK THANK YOUYOU

Ajay KumarDeveloper & Community OutreachCoordinator India Sahana Cluster

Sahana Software Foundation

Email: [email protected]: http://ajuonline.netTwitter/IRC: ajuonline