Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080612/article_362842.htm
IT helping relief effort in areas hit by quake
Created: 2008-6-12
Author:Zhu Shenshen
CHINA has made use of information technology, including disaster management systems, to guide rescue and reconstruction work and supervise the use of donated materials and money after the Sichuan earthquake, IT service providers said yesterday.
IT systems are also used to fight potential corruption involving the billions of yuan donated to the relief effort.
IT firms, such IBM, Ufida Software and Google, have provided free services for the Sichuan government and related organizations and enterprises in the quake-hit regions and for victims seeking information about family members and friends.
IBM has provided a free Web-based disaster manage system to the government of Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province. The Big Blue, which draws lessons learned in the wake of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, makes use of the Sahana system.
Sahana, which can be run from a personal computer or laptop, provides a registry for disaster victims and missing persons that includes names, locations and personal details. The system's database will be connected with the databases of the Chengdu public security and healthcare bureaus, IBM said.
"The system will be double-checked by the Chengdu government this week and is expected to be copied in the whole region if it's proved to be successful," IBM China's spokeswoman Qian Fang said. More than 50 IBM engineers have moved to Sichuan to install and test Sahana, she said.
Ufida, China's biggest enterprise software vendor, has provided free software to the country's Red Cross organizations, the major donation receivers.
"Through our software with remote-linked functions, every use of the donated money will be recorded and supervised by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beijing," said Huang Chunhua, Ufida's marketing manager.
Recovery
Up to the noon yesterday, China had received donations of some 44.57 billion yuan (US$6.44 billion), the government said.
Ufida and another homegrown software vendor, Kingdee, have provided free updating and recovery services for their clients in Sichuan.
After the earthquake, Google China built a search engine to help people locate relatives and friends in the quake zone, whose names might have been posted on online bulletin boards or chat rooms.
Google China's "Lost Loved Ones" was up and running in less than a day. Five days after the May 12 earthquake, it had been used 500,000 times, according to the company.
IT systems are also used to fight potential corruption involving the billions of yuan donated to the relief effort.
IT firms, such IBM, Ufida Software and Google, have provided free services for the Sichuan government and related organizations and enterprises in the quake-hit regions and for victims seeking information about family members and friends.
IBM has provided a free Web-based disaster manage system to the government of Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province. The Big Blue, which draws lessons learned in the wake of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, makes use of the Sahana system.
Sahana, which can be run from a personal computer or laptop, provides a registry for disaster victims and missing persons that includes names, locations and personal details. The system's database will be connected with the databases of the Chengdu public security and healthcare bureaus, IBM said.
"The system will be double-checked by the Chengdu government this week and is expected to be copied in the whole region if it's proved to be successful," IBM China's spokeswoman Qian Fang said. More than 50 IBM engineers have moved to Sichuan to install and test Sahana, she said.
Ufida, China's biggest enterprise software vendor, has provided free software to the country's Red Cross organizations, the major donation receivers.
"Through our software with remote-linked functions, every use of the donated money will be recorded and supervised by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beijing," said Huang Chunhua, Ufida's marketing manager.
Recovery
Up to the noon yesterday, China had received donations of some 44.57 billion yuan (US$6.44 billion), the government said.
Ufida and another homegrown software vendor, Kingdee, have provided free updating and recovery services for their clients in Sichuan.
After the earthquake, Google China built a search engine to help people locate relatives and friends in the quake zone, whose names might have been posted on online bulletin boards or chat rooms.
Google China's "Lost Loved Ones" was up and running in less than a day. Five days after the May 12 earthquake, it had been used 500,000 times, according to the company.
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