Project Profile

Date Submitted: 10/16/2009 - 08:59
Submitted By: Amna
Category: Social Work
Target Region: - Southern Asia
Project Participant's Name: Amna
Team: Part of a team
Role: Concept Developer/Executer
Country: Pakistan
Description:

Background: 8th October 2005, saw Pakistan caught amidst the worst of natural disasters. With an intensity of 7.6 on rector scale and epicenter, Pakistan administered Kashmir, the earthquake rocked Kashmir and some parts of North West frontier Province back to the Stone Age. Thousands of people died, multiple injured, buildings including education centers and media building collapsed, telecommunication systems destroyed etc. When I participated in the World Youth Forum 2006, it got me thinking and gave me ideas after listening to the professionals speak, how to help in the reconstruction and rehabilitation plan of the earthquake hit areas. Being a graduate in Computers and Information Sciences (CIS), I got the opportunity through an NGO SERRA (State Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency) for the implementation of “Integrated Software Solutions”. I participated in the implementation of the software along with designated people of SERRA.

Objective Purpose: The objective of the project was to develop:

• Development Web Portal and teaching the local people how to use and access it
• Assets and Inventory Management System (AMS)

The purpose of these two projects was to portray the activities of SERRA and Government of Pakistan in terms of reconstruction and rehabilitation for the affected people and also teaching them how to use the web portal for their own benefit.

Input/Output:The web portal included the following things:

• Database of the deceased and missing or unidentified people- Search functionality for the users to search on the basis of location, first name, last name
• Current activities of Government of Pakistan on reconstruction and rehabilitation
• Database of NGO’s and Government monetary organizations and their contact addresses to put forward the claims of the lost assets of the affected people. Forms to download from the site to file claims

The need for Assets and Inventory Management System arose due to the fact that the process of assessing or claiming the assets lost during the earthquake by affected individuals was manual. Certain forms were filled out by individuals and SERRA personals use certain documents to validate such claims. But the limitations were that:

• There was no database for all the claims made since earthquake
• There was no system to insert/update/search for claims

Results: Since the people in Kashmir and Northern Areas are mostly unaware of ICTs, it was a hard job to teach them to use the website, though the website was in the national language Urdu. I took part in the process of training a group of earthquake affected young people about how to use the website as well as the Assets and Inventory Management System. Computer terminals were setup in the affected areas and trained young people were employed to help the affected people in making use of the website and management system for their own use. The result was that the young people got employment and thousands of acres of land and money has been efficiently allocated to the affected.


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