Uttarakhand to provide disaster alerts on mobiles

The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday, will launch a new technology by which disaster alerts would be issued on the mobile phones of tourists and pilgrims visiting Kedarnath and other Himalayan shrines in the state.

Disaster alert is a mobile multi-hazard monitoring application created for Android users in the US and European countries.

By accessing the disaster-aware platform, it provides users with near real-time access to data on active hazards, showing events that are designated potentially hazardous to people, property or assets.

The application would be launched on Tuesday in Rurdraprayag, the epicentre of 2013's deluge, which had lead to the deaths of thousands. "Rudraprayag district is launching GIS/Digital Map Application, Sri Kedar Rescue demo Android application and bulk SMS service tomorrow," said Raghav Langer, district magistrate and head of the Rurdraprayag disaster management authority. "This would help us to strengthen disaster management and mitigation apparatus for better preparedness in order to tackle future disaster in the district."

In this context, the district administration has completed the GIS/Digital mapping of various strategic locations, escape routes and important resources available in the entire district, Langer added.