http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/2011/2011_08_16_LN%20110817%20haiti%20app.mp3
A group of computer students at Trinity College have created a smartphone app to improve disaster relief management. As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, the project aims to help Haitians recovering from the 2010 earthquake.
Trinity is part of a collaboration between Wesleyan University and Connecticut College to create free software that benefits the common good. It's funded by the National Science Foundation.
Trishan de Lanerolle is the Project Director at Trinity College. He says a Washington D.C non governmental organization or NGO approached the college for ideas to improve its food distribution system in Haiti.
de Lanerolle says before the app was created, field nurses relied on paper forms to register people for aid. Now they can use Droid phones to input data.
"During the event they can make updates and send it back to the office via text messages to directly update the central system that people have got their rations and who's received what. And if there are new beneficiaries who need to register for the program. So we've cut down some of those delays that take a couple of weeks to a few hours."
That means eliminating previous situations where Haitians have travelled for miles to receive aid only to find out they're not in the database.
De Lanerolle says the app will be widely used by field nurses in southern Haiti starting in the next few weeks.
