Google to offer faster flood forecast alert in India

Google, earlier in the year, revealed that it can use undersea cables and Android phones to alert users of natural disasters such as earthquakes and Tsunami in the nearby coastal regions of the US. Now, the company is said to be working with the Indian government and Yale University to improve the forecast of flood warnings in the country.

Flooding during the Monsoon affects millions of people in India causing loss not just in terms of property damage, but also in human lives. Previously, Google in collaboration with the Indian Central Water Commission used to offer flood forecast service only in some parts of India. Now, it has expanded to the entire country.

With this, Google says it can help more than 200 million people across more than 250,000 square kilometers—more than 20 times compared to last year. To date, Google has reportedly sent out around 30 million notifications to people in flood-affected areas.

Last year, Google and Yale University personnel had carried out survey in areas severely affected by the floods. They wanted to understand what affected people seek during the distress, on how fast they were able to relocate after the tip-off on imminent floods, what additional information they want, and what more can be done to make the flood alert reach them faster.

Based on the feedback, Google has launched a new forecasting model that is said to offer flood alert double the lead time compared to the previous model. It now provides notice to governments and giving tens of millions of people an extra day or so to prepare for the flood.

Also, Google offers extra information about flood depth, when and how much floodwaters are likely to rise. It has developed new depth maps throughout the floodplain, to offer simplified data about depth in the user’s village.

"We’ve also overhauled the way our alerts look and function to make sure they’re useful and accessible for everyone. We now provide the information in different formats, so that people can both read their alerts and see them presented visually; we’ve added support for Hindi, Bengali, and seven other local languages; we’ve made the alert more localized and accurate, and we now allow for easy changes to language or location," said Yossi Matias, VP Engineering & Crisis Response Lead, Google.

Furthermore, Google is collaborating with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to develop local networks and co-ordinate with village people, who don't have to access to phones and get them to help to relocate to safer places.

Besides India, Google is also working to the Bangladesh government to offer similar flood warning services.

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