When disaster hits, finding resources on the ground means that they can be deployed quickly rather than needing to be brought in. A Canadian engineer has developed a tool to help teams in disaster zones quickly locate those resources, according to the CBC. The app, created by Bo Simango and his company Holocene, is designed to track assets such as medical supplies, vehicles and food and shelter in stricken areas around the world, from Zimbabwe to Canada.
By automating these processes, Simango feels this app could increase efficiency in planning disaster response in the future including the use of supplies, staging locations and evacuation routes. “Beyond that you’re tracking the data, you can also introduce dynamic demand forecasting,” he told CBC Radio’s St. John’s Morning Show. “So, when you start thinking about that, you start knowing what resources we need at this moment in time.”
Simango previously helped develop prosthetics using 3D printing as part of a Memorial University of Newfoundland team assisting young people in Zimbabwe.
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