Providing Aid to Victims of Disasters - Essay Example

 Business Report Table of Contents I. List of Illustrations 3 II. Abstract 3 III. Introduction 3 A. Background 3 B. Problem 4 C. Purpose 4 D. Scope 4 IV. Discussion 5 A. Drones 6 B. Crowdsourcing Technologies 6 V. Conclusion 7 VI. Recommendations 8 Works Cited 9 I. List of Illustrations Illustration 1: Crowdsourced Disaster Map for Nepal (Sinha). II. Abstract The business report looks at new products and technologies that are of great effectiveness in providing aid to victims of disasters. The report discussion is don e in the context of the Nepal quake, and how vital new products and technologies such as drones and crowdsourcing are creating new and innovative ways to provide relief, They are proving themselves to be invaluable in the relief effort and are pointing the way to vastly improved relief work moving forward (Chappellet-Lanier; Agence France-Presse). III. Introduction A. Background The catastrophic earthquake that recently hit Nepal has left thousands dead, millions more displaced, sacred and ancient temples and artifacts of culture destroyed and reduced to ruins, and an economy badly battered and brought to its knees. The toll on human lives and the suffering that followed from various injuries and the loss of loved ones especially tears the heart and moves people to compassionate action. The most recent count of the dead is 7,000 and rising, and as rescue efforts escalate various problems are starting to emerge relating to the difficulties in distributing aid, and the challenges in successfully managing the logistics tied to the relief process. In some areas that are the most badly hit and where the people have been chronically in need of help, the aid simply has not arrived (Rai; Associated Press). It is in this spirit that this business report is written, with an eye to exploring new products that can be deployed and used in disaster areas such as Nepal, with the aim of helping the displaced Nepalese in the most effective manner (FoxNews; Wang, Purnell and Bhattacharya). B. Problem The logistics of delivering aid to those who are most in need of them in disaster-struck areas such as Nepal require novel solutions, and require creativity in the use of available new technologies and products in order to crack seemingly intractable problems, save lives, and give hope to both rescue providers and the most desperate and destitute victims. The earthquake in Nepal and the dire situation of the people who are in the disaster areas highlight the importance and the urgency of the use and availability of such new products. The problem lies in unearthing these products and creatively making use of them for them precisely in order to help in the direst situations in badly hit parts of Nepal and other such zones of disaster (Khan; Burke). C. Purpose The purpose of this business report is to present new products that can be deployed and used in disaster-hit areas, and that are most effective in aiding those who have been affected and displaced by the disasters, such as those that have been badly hit in the Nepal quake (Khan; Burke). D. Scope The business report focuses on new products that are currently being demonstrated to be of great use in current disaster crisis areas, and in the context of the Nepal quake. The business report dwells on relevant aspects of those new technologies, and how feasibly and effectively such new products are being put to use for the purposes of providing aid to the victims (Chappellet-Lanier; Agence France-Presse). IV. Discussion The literature tells us that various new products and technologies are being deployed successfully in the wake of the Nepal quake, some of them being products that have current uses in ordinary times in Nepal already, such as technologies tied to trekking and climbing the Himalayas. These technologies include mobile technologies and apps that are in use in climbing Mt. Everest and to make sure that climbers are able to access the Internet and remain connected with the world, even in areas that are so high that the air has thinned considerably and humans are at risk of dying without support technologies to sustain life and to get in touch with other people (Chappellet-Lanier; Agence France-Presse). They also include technologies and products that are of recent origin relatively, such as drones, and the use of masses of people in collaborating online in order to solve the problems tied to providing immediate relief to the hardest hit. This latter product or technology is more of a resource that is used to convene people to solve tasks, known as crowdsourcing, and is essentially powered by volunteer work and the Internet. The proceeding paragraphs detail drones, crowdsourcing, and communication technologies and products that are relevant in terms of helping the hardest hit victims in disasters, set in the context of their actual use in Nepal right now (Wang, Purnell and Bhattacharya; Agence France-Presse). A. Drones Drones are being employed in Nepal and in other disaster areas and are proving their worth in terms of being able to reach the most remote areas and quickly relay vital information relating to terrain, damage to infrastructure such as roads, the lay of the land, and other vital information that can be used in relief efforts. Drones in Nepal and in other areas, moreover, are now being loaded with thermal imaging cameras that are able to convey information about living and dead people, and such valuable data is used to determine whether or not some disaster areas require urgent relief work where people are trapped, desperate but still alive. The drones are also being equipped with powerful imaging cameras with powerful zoom capabilities in order to gather images of actual faces even from distances of as much as a thousand feet. All this information is being used right now for relief work, and these drones are proving to be highly effective and irreplaceable for such purposes (King). B. Crowdsourcing Technologies Crowdsourcing is essentially the use of the crowds in order to solve complex problems, and in the case of disasters, the use of crowdsourcing products such as Google Docs to disseminate and collaborate on information gathering has proved its worth. Google Docs as a product is simple and easy to use and share, and while it has been around for some time, creative uses for it have resulted in new ways of helping disaster victims get help in a very efficient and effective manner. The collaborative nature of Google Docs means that people all over the world can work on the information gathering and dissemination for various aspects of disaster relief work. On the other hand, crowdsourcing technologies are also being deployed for the purposes of updating disaster maps that are likewise highly effective and needed in relief work, as well as for raising funds in order to help those who are in need of aid (Sinha). Below is a graphic illustrating the use of open mapping crowdsourcing technology to create an interactive disaster map for Nepal (Sinha): Illustration 1: Crowdsourced Disaster Map for Nepal (Sinha). Source: Sinha V. Conclusion This business report focused on drones and crowdsourcing as new products/technologies that are proving their worth as highly effective in providing help to those who are badly hit by disasters, as can be seen from their successful and innovative uses in the Nepal quake. That said, there are other such new products and technologies that are being deployed with great effectiveness and results, including telecommunications products and technologies that allow people to stay in touch and to access the Internet, and solar technologies that allow isolated people to continue to use devices that they then use to communicate and to get online (Wang, Purnell and Bhattacharya; Agence France-Presse). VI. Recommendations This business report has unearthed new products such as crowdsourcing and drones that are proving their worth in the field providing invaluable help in saving lives and dramatically improving the relief work. The key recommendation is to continue to find novel use cases for other technologies and products, such as smart phone apps and solar technologies, to further discover new products and new uses for existing products in the context of helping those struck by disasters (Chappellet-Lanier; Agence France-Presse).. Works Cited Agence France-Presse. “Nepal Earthquake Highlights Everest Technology”. NDTV. 2 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Associated Press. “Nepal Earthquake Death Toll Passes 7,000. The World Post. 3 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Burke, Jason. “‘No one has come’: one week on, Nepal quake victims help themselves”. The Guardian. 2 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Chappellet-Lanier, Tajha. “How Tech Firms Are Helping People In the Nepal Earthquake Zone”. NPR. 27 April 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. FoxNews. “Earthquake survivors plead for aid in Nepal mountain villages”. FoxNews.com. 3 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Khan, Wajahat. “Nepal Earthquake: Aid Workers Warn of Desperate Chopper Shortage”. NBC News. 2 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. King, Leo. “Nepal Earthquake Relief And the Urgent Boost From Drones”. Forbes.com. 30 April 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Rai, Bhrikiti. “Our faith in authority is fading as we start to rebuild Nepal ourselves”. The Guardian. 3 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Sinha, Shreeya. “3 Ways Nepalis Are Using Crowdsourcing to Aid in Quake Relief”. The New York Times. 1 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. Wang, Shirley, Newly Purnell and Suryatapa Bhattacharya. “Nepal Aid Workers Helped by Drones, Crowdsourcing”. The Wall Street Journal. 1 May 2015. Web. 3 May 2015. 1 Read More