A graduate of B. Pharma, with an enterprising mind, Rajat is the one who drew up the blueprint of Pataa. He put down the specific features the application had to have and worked on building and getting Pataa out to the masses.
If estimates are to be believed, the sad reality is that India sees over 450,000 casualties each year, with 150,000 lives lost. According to research, India has the highest number of road accident fatalities. Every hour, 53 road accidents occur, with one death every four minutes. A lack of rapid trauma care is one of the reasons these accidents have catastrophic consequences, as stated by an official.
Another example of lack of an efficient emergency management system resulting in an unforeseen consequence is the Gujarat government’s order in 2019 to investigate the late arrival of an ambulance at the home of Honourable Minister Vijay Rupani’s cousin, Sanghvi, due to his untimely demise. When he complained of breathlessness, the ambulance was called by his family, but by the time it arrived, he had sadly succumbed.
What adds to an already worrisome scenario, is how India, is also a country with one of the most complicated addressing systems with difficult street names, and almost zero connectivity from certain rural to urban areas. Addressing is not just about giving a name to a location, but also ensuring that emergency management resources can reach those in need, in time.
Welcoming Location Based Services (LBS)
The capacity to locate mobile users geographically and deliver services to them depending on their location is referred to as location-based services or LBS. This is a technological advancement resulting from wireless networks, the Internet, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Instead of requiring an individual to write their complete and specific address, a GPS, cellular network, WiFi station, or radio beacon can determine a user’s location using positioning technology. Gamechanger, right?
Now, in the unfortunate event of an emergency, a call will be routed to the rescue team’s command centre in the event of an emergency. Following that, emergency personnel will be dispatched. The rescue team is informed about the critical information such as the location and route, as well as the nature of the incident.
The Emergency Management and Resource Team (EMRT) receives information about the location of the emergency through LBS. In the event of natural catastrophes such as tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, and other untoward events, LBS is of great aid with its location positioning technology in determining the location in need of assistance and providing it with its advanced software.
The Value of Convenient Addressing
Knowing the geographic location of any person or thing gives Information Services and decision-making a significant new dimension. In the event of an emergency or potential delays on the chosen road, rapid judgments are critical, life-dependent even.
This is where a system that has been developed for making addresses simpler can be used to make the tasks of the EMRT easier and more efficient, and help them reach the disaster site with ease.
A prominent way of doing this is through digital addressing. This digital solution provides a shortcode for all addresses in place of the detailed address, making the whole process of sharing and understanding addresses a whole lot easier. This ensures emergency services can reach anywhere swiftly, averting unnecessary complications that might occur due to a simple delay of the services.
Of course, there are numerous elements at play when it comes to the delay of emergency services apart from the addressing system. Convenient addressing is one aspect that plays an important role in determining the time that help takes to arrive during a crisis. We can’t say that this is a fool-proof solution to avoid any delay of resources during emergencies, but having a software in place that makes addresses easier to share, locate and navigate, can greatly help the whole process of emergency management.
Adequate preparedness is of utmost importance to ensure the elimination of unnecessary complications that might occur in case of an inadequate emergency response system. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” So, with this in mind, welcoming a convenient addressing system within the emergency management system can ensure that we, as a nation are well prepared to offer prompt assistance during an emergency.