Design and Implementation of Crisis and Emergency Reporting and Response System Using SMS
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2009-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Effective and reliable communication plays a critical role in helping organization engaged in the area of crisis and emergency reporting and responding. Addis Ababa Police Commission is an organization working in the area of responding to crisis and emergency related incidents in Addis Ababa. When faced with crises and emergency situations, for the purpose of reporting different type of incident, the general public is limited to using phone calls. Being limited to using phone calls, the Police Commission is facing different difficulties mainly in the credibility of the report, since phone calls are mostly anonymous false and unreliable reports are being received. This affects the action taken to the incident in managing available resource effectively. Therefore there is a need to enhance the communication medium by using an additional means of reporting crises and emergency incidents. The use of mobile technologies are so broadening that people are depending on this technology in their day to day activities to effectively communicate and collaborate with each other whether handling their personal or business activities. One of the features of mobile technologies that have come to be broadly used is SMS (Short messaging Service) which enables the user to send and receive text messages using mobile phones. Different SMS based applications are currently being developed globally by different organizations for different purposes in the business world, health, monitoring, supply chain management etc. After conducting a survey on the current condition of crises and emergency reporting and responding at Addis Ababa Police Commission, and identifying the available current technologies, we have developed a system called MobiRep that can alleviate the problems that is more efficient and economical.
MobiRep is a system engaged in accepting reports from any mobile phones using the SMS. In addition to accepting reports, the system can also send SMS or broadcast bulk SMS to a group or multiple devices that can accept text messages. After accepting a report, the police can also use the broadcasting feature of the system to take necessary action to an incident by dispatching resources. Additionally, the system will also be able to send SMS alerts in warning subscribed users about a major incident or criminal activities that occurred or may occur near their neighborhood. Generally the system to be developed will play a good role in being an additional means of accepting real-time reports and also help by filling the communication gap in reporting and responding to a crisis, crime or an emergency
Description
Keywords
Design and Implementation, of Crisis And Emergency