Brussels, 22/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being put to use in the field of humanitarian efforts. Thanks to the research project WORKPAD, which was funded by the European Union, coordinating emergency services in the event of a natural disaster will be supported, thus making the interventions more effective, helping to save more lives. “EU research funds have helped to develop a great ICT tool that makes emergency response even better and faster. This is how research and innovation can help to build the Digital Agenda for Europe”, said Neelie Kroes, the commissioner in charge of the digital strategy.
In order to intervene effectively in the event of a natural disaster (earthquake, forest fire, flood etc), it is vital to connect the various management systems and databases used by the emergency services, so that the rescue teams have access to all the information they need to intervene effectively. The speed of intervention and the coordination of the teams, to prevent a situation with too many workers in one place and not enough in others, are crucial to save lives. The project WORKPAD was developed between 2006 and 2009 by researchers from Italian and Austrian universities, Czech and Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises, the region of Calabria and businesses from the IT sector.
Of the total estimated cost of €3.16 million, €1.85m was supplied by the Commission under the sixth framework programme for research 2001-2006. WORKPAD is a network which makes it possible to connect management systems to create this efficiency. Using a central coordination and dispatch point, emergency workers can communicate with each other using their mobile phones. The network also allows the team leaders to know where the members of their teams are at all times, to communicate with them and to take stock of the situation. Vital information such as the names of the people who live in a building which has collapsed, the list of pupils of a school and telephone records can also be exchanged over this network using peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. WORKPAD has also developed software which is capable of defining tasks, distributing roles and providing the rescue teams with instructions. The information can also be updated in real time, to allow the workers to be given a new task if the urgent need arises.
WORKPAD has been successfully tested in southern Italy, a region which is frequently hit by forest fires and occasionally also by earthquakes. The Czech Republic and the Italian region of Calabria are planning to deploy the system. (I.L./transl.fl)