The BBC reported today in, Web Tool to Help Survivors Cope, about a disaster relief system that would connect survivors and donors directly using the Internet, and make delivery of supplies by truck more efficient:

In the iCare system survivors report what they need via web terminals in aid centres or using text messages sent via mobile phones. Their requests are then routed to the companies, organisations or individuals that can provide exactly what they need.

The pair hope the system will prove popular, as many individuals prefer to donate goods rather than just hand over cash to aid agencies.

As well as matching donors and victims, the iCare system also aims to streamline the delivery of aid to disaster zones.

Algorithms written by the pair find free space on trucks owned by delivery firms that have signed up for iCare and which which will be heading into disaster zones.

The iCare system also plots the best route for the truck so all the aid it is carrying gets to those who have requested it as fast as possible.

iCare creators, PhD students Anand Kulkarni and Ephrat Bitton lay out their plan for iCare in their article, iCare: Direct Person-to-Person Charity for Efficient Disaster Relief on the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Wiki. Both are students at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley.

The report touches on its social impact:

iCare puts a human face on the process of charitable aid and disaster relief. The human benefit provided by personally assisting another individual in a time of crisis sets the iCare experience apart.

Its sustainability model:

iCare is transparent, trackable, and has no administrative overhead, boosting user confidence in the relief process. . . . Being a strictly web-based technology, iCare has almost no overhead cost -- an advantage over nonprofits and government agencies that is meaningful to users. iCare permits increased delivery of goods and services in loss-prone, blocked, or dangerous environments

And tech innovation:

By permitting an unlimited range of items and unique skills to be offered in relief services, we maximize the segments of the public who can contribute aid efforts. Further, by ensuring that items are only provided in response to a specific victim's need and request, we ensure that overcontribution of goods is impossible. By eliminating the middlemen converting funds to goods in a charity transaction, iCare simplifies and enhances the process of delivering resources to those who need them most. Anti-fraud measures significantly reduce the possibility of abuse while retaining accessibility for individuals in the midst of a disaster. IP address tracking, package location tracking, the reduced anonymity of one-on-one donations, and a reputation system for repeat recipients all reduce the likelihood that fraudulent requests for aid will succeed.

Sounds like a candidate for N2Y3!

via Makenna Berry of Ayo Consulting on the SFBay Area YNPN list.

Photo Credit: Disaster Zone by Cris.