Sirqul has spent the past year building solutions focused on social mobile location solutions. When phone calls came in earlier this week from a former co-worker and friend requesting information on how to help volunteers in the New York and New Jersey area, the entire team sprang into action. The result was a 3-day turnaround to develop a solution that targets aid workers, aid dispatchers and centers, and people who are looking for where to go to get the items they need. In collaboration with Wavesforwater.org, 1love.org, and volunteers on the ground in the Rockaway area of New York, Sirqul was able to provide a solution that does the following for first responders, aid scouts, centers, and people in need:
First Responders
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1. Open app and record your location by pressing the "+" sign.
2. Take photos and record audio so that others get a clear understanding of what aid is needed.
3. Write notes and publish them instantly.
4. Move on to your next location.
Aid Workers & Scouts
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1. Canvas the areas that you have been assigned.
2. Choose your location and record the situation.
3. Record via your own voice what is needed and how many people will need aid.
4. Publish and move on to your next location.
Aid Coordinators and Centers
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1. Publish your location, as most people are mobile and transient.
2. Record what items, resources, and services you are providing.
3. Update your location/information often as more supplies and resources are handed out.
4. Meet with Aid Workers, Scouts, etc. and get them added to Groups so that you can send group messages and alerts in real-time vs. requiring each of them to return to get updates.
The idea of the application is help organize efforts and connect those in need with those who are trying to help.
1. Setup public and private teams that can receive notifications and alerts, as well as chat in real-time.
2. Allow people to subscribe to alerts and notifications tied to an aid worker, a scout, and/or an aid center.
3. Publish images/audio and descriptions to FB so that you can get others outside your area to stay up-to-date with the work that is being done on the ground. This humanizes the event, as only some of the details will be picked up by local news and agencies.
"We know that the key is to get the product in the right people's hands and we need news outlets, word of mouth, and the key organizations to go ahead spread information about this app, asap. There are too many people who need help and too many volunteers who are unaware of how to get batteries, food, and other items to these people in an efficient way." -Robert Frederick, Sirqul, Inc.
Mobile Disaster Relief is powered by Sirqul.com, a Seattle-based startup that has created a ubiquitous social platform enabling consumers and brands to create their own distributed, Social-Location-Mobile solutions as a means of driving awareness and engagement through viral adoption. Mobile Disaster Relief leverages a lot of the components of Appture (http://sirqul.com/appture), Sirqul's first application released earlier this fall.
Source:
http://computernewsarticles.com/computer_articles/2012/11/sirqul-announces-mobile-disaster-relief-app-mdra-to-help-manage-relief-coordination-for-super-storm-sandy-volunteers-314367.htm
