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Disaster Planning in Uganda with the Red Cross

April 24, 2013

Humanitarian aid and assistance agencies are working all over the world to help developing nations prepare for and respond to disasters. We are proud to share that Fulcrum is actively being used by such organizations.

Recently, the Ugandan Red Cross Society has been hard at work in eastern Uganda conducting field surveys to get a better understanding of civil readiness in the event of a disaster. In Uganda, Fulcrum was brought in as a data collection and mapping toolset, and a group of volunteers was trained to use it. This team administered baseline surveys in order to catalog the current situation on the ground. The volunteers, using Fulcrum on Android devices, traveled through villages in eastern Uganda, interviewing heads of household. The group used rigorous surveying methodologies to measure levels of disaster preparedness. These volunteers had no prior experience with data collection, but after some training, were able to efficiently utilize the application to collect data.

Albertine Rift

The sort of information collected in this survey is important in helping the organization measure the effectiveness of the forthcoming flood Early Warning System in improving the livelihoods of the local populace. Since filling out these surveys also automatically captures GPS coordinate information, spatial analyses and visualizations can be performed using the data, helping to measure the readiness of Ugandans in the event of a disaster.

The use of Fulcrum was continued on a project with the Chilean Red Cross to map areas with limited existing data. Similar to those in Uganda, the Chilean group of volunteers had no GIS experience but was effectively trained to use Fulcrum. By the end of training, the team was collecting around 800 records in the span of two hours. The intention for the data collected in this survey is ultimately to leverage GIS data for risk assessment and to generate more detailed, granular exposure layers for disaster planning.

Fulcrum can easily be employed as a low cost alternative to other data collection toolsets and has the advantage of working completely offline in remote areas. If you are part of a non-profit organization and would be interested in using Fulcrum, please email us and we will work with your budget to offer you the best pricing plan.