Using Digital Technologies Makes Disaster Relief More Efficient

Digital technologies, such as interactive maps, open databases, textbots, apps, telehealth services or drones have great potential to help people stranded in life-threatening situations and make first response teams more effective during disasters. Let me tell you how! Hurricane season arrived in the Atlantic with destructive forces Hurricanes hit the Atlantic coast and the Caribbean hard. Hurricane Harvey arrived in Texas at the end of August, left at least 39 people dead and 30,000 people in need of temporary shelter after their own homes were flooded. On 26 August, 56,000 emergency calls were placed in Houston after the storm hit. Fortunately, the police were able to rescue 3,500 people from the floods in the city and the surrounding areas. Hurricane Irma roared and raged in Florida and the Caribbean. The destructive storm arrived in the state on 10 September with heavy rain and winds of around 100 miles an hour. Millions of people there had already left their homes. Huge areas in Florida are without power, and parts of the city of Miami are under water. The „big monster”, as it was called by US President Trump, cost the lives of four people there, while it already claimed 137 lives in the Caribbean. It is estimated that 1.2 million people on the islands have been affected by Irma and that could rise to 26 million after hitting the US, according to the Red Cross. As two more hurricanes, Jose and Katia, are also approaching the area, it is worth looking at how digital h...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Future of Medicine Healthcare Design Mobile Health chatbots digital digital technology disaster relief drones GC1 hurricane Innovation interactive maps medical drones social media telemedicine Source Type: blogs