High-tech Ponnani model flood relief wows UN forum

Malappuram: The Ponnani model flood relief work carried out with massive public participation and unleashing the optimum potential of technology is gaining international acclaim - it has been listed as a topic of discussion at a key United Nations forum.

Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, who is also the legislator representing the Ponnani constituency in Malappuram district, would be representing the state at the United Nations Sustainable Development Commission (UNSDC) to be held at Geneva from May 13 to 17 next year.

The Ponnani model of relief and rehabilitation work and the unique methods deployed to tackle the calamity with public participation would also be deliberated at the South Asia Together for Humanitarian Imperative (SATHI) to be held in Bangkok from September 24 to 27.

Ponnani Model

The Ponnani Legislative Assembly constituency envisaged a special mechanism to calculate the intensity of the August deluge in Kerala that killed over 400 people and destroyed infrastructure and property worth crores.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) Drone Field Survey was carried out in Ponnani from August 23 to 30 under the guidance of Sreeramakrishnan.

By deploying state-of-the art technologies, Sreeramakrishnan mainly aimed at effective use of man power as well as precision in calculating the calamity.

The idea was to minimise complaints about flood-related assistance and relief material not reaching deserving flood-hit people and instead ending up with ineligible sections.

Maximum precision was ensured in identifying loss, collecting relief materials as well as in delivering the aid.

It was a young, vibrant team of volunteers who mostly helped him run the show. “The rehabilitation camp in Ponnani was renamed 'Interim Reclining Abode'. The GIS drone drive we carried out was a new working experience to me. Those young brains were laborious. I was struggling to catch up with their pace. They called me team leader though I was rather a team facilitator. I must admit that they are policy makers of tomorrow,” Sreeramakrishnan said about the young volunteers.

Constituting a team

The discussions to start the drone survey was initiated on August 19 on a war footing by the Speaker. He received the support of Alhambricks Knowledge Endowment and Ponnani Municipality chairman CP Mohammed Kunhi. The first step was to constitute a responsible team that would ensure proper delivery of services at the right time for the deserving people.

The cost needed for the survey was narrowed to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 20 lakh through the Disaster Support Concept, a support system from the collaborating partners.

This amount was equally met by Ponnani Municipality and Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS), based in Kozhikode.

Alhambricks Knowledge Endowment carried out the interpretation, data mining, indexing and other socio-scientific enhancement free of cost. The post datum hosting development – interpretation of the data, mobilising resources and devising distribution mechanism – was done by Infosys.

According to Deepak V, one of the volunteers and seventh semester information and technology student at MES engineering college, Kuttippuram, in the 30-day training he received an opportunity to work for firms like Infosys.

“The relief activities changed the public's perception regarding the new generation. We have been treated as irresponsible youth who waste time on social media and smartphone. This was an opportunity to show the merits of the youngsters. We could work with our technical knowledge and in return, we got opportunity to work with the Speaker and many experts. It was a great experience and exposure,” he said.

The project was envisaged and conceptualised by policy analyst Yasir PV, who initiated setting up a base station at Institute of Career Studies and Research (ICSR) on the banks of Bharathappuzha.

The base station, which itself was submerged in the flood, was quickly refurbished to facilitate the survey procedures.

The house-to-house survey was actively supported by the students from MES engineering college, with the help of Lensfed, a collective of engineers, draughtsmen and construction contractors and Ideal College for Social Work.

“A survey can be conducted in many level. Some use it for war, some for irrigation or distribution. We are creating a data base here, to be used by any department in the future too. In fact, the data collected here will be forwarded to the Kerala Police server. In the mission, we ensured the active participation of local self-government and a few hand-picked volunteers,” says Yasir.

Identification and verification

It took seven days for the team to identify the affected areas and verify them with the help of technology as well as volunteers on the field.

Apart from visiting the houses and plots, over 15 telephones operated by Call Management System was used for ten hours a day to verify the source of destruction i.e., the houses, crops or livestock.

Malappuram district collector Amit Meena had sanctioned 15 telephones for the base station for this purpose. The assistance of veterinary physicians was sought to ascertain the loss of poultry and to cross-check the details of losses.

By using drones synchronised with satellite images to ascertain the route of the flood, false claims on loss of property as well as livestock were weeded out.

All the relief material distributed were marked with QR code, to ensure that they were delivered to the right houses and people.

Deploying drones

The municipality used a novel method for calculating the damage caused by the flood. It conducted an aerial survey using the drone. The drone could fly even to a height of 300 meters from the sea level. Though it can be flown very low, considering the obstacles, it is usually flown at a height of 100 meters. The drone can capture footages up to 4cm above the sea level. These footages can further be rectified and zoomed up to 3 millimetres.

The officials and volunteers at the base station monitored the data on an hourly basis. The base station operated almost 20 hours a day. After the completion of the drone survey, Ponnani tried an amazing job, of distributing new (duplicate) certificates through drones, in place of those lost in the flood.

Eight-year-old Shifa, daughter of Muthu and Aneesha, was the first to receive a new birth certificate. The family lost their valuables and certificates in the flood.

Coordination with LSG & district administration

A virtual platform was developed by five IT students at the base station in ICSR to collect data and file them for reference. The team also developed a portal, allowing up to 200 searches simultaneously on missing documents, livestock as well as repair work required for houses. The portal also had a provision to donate in kind.

Resource acquisition

The next step was to acquire resources to be distributed among the needy. Funds were raised through cooperative banks.

The team is planning to deliver all material before November 1. A festival, Nila Resilience, would also be conducted.

The concept has been borrowed from a Tsunami festival held in Indonesia in which various performing artists participated.

150 houses for the flood-affected by March 31

Another initiative, Snehabemmadam, (Palatial House of Love) aims to provide houses to those who lost it. Nearly 150 families would get their new houses by March 31 next year.

Pre-fabricated modular houses with an area of 650 square feet would be provided with the support of UK's AA School of Architecture Alumni led by Maryam Zakiah.

Three options are being discussed to complete the Snehabemmadam project.

A housing complex, houses at various locations and construction in the already available plots are being considered.

By initiating technology and involving experts and local self-government officials, Sreeramakrishnan made sure that the complaints of hapless flood-hit people are dropped in a single window with just one application.

To address concerns of some whose grievances were still not addressed, special adalats would be organised under the aegis of the district administration.

Applicants who lost property and documents, did not even need to put up request. Rather, they are called up from the survey list by the authorities over the telephone.

This massive effort is now receiving international acclaim and is also is an eye-opener on how a perfect sync of technology and the potential of a massive volunteer force can be deployed to deal with post-calamity situations in any part of the world.

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