Sahana – FREE Disaster Management software

Wow, this is simply amazing. Just when you thought that the Open Source software movement couldn’t come up with any more ideas for practical software applications, along comes the kind folks (developers) at Sahana.lk in Sri Lanka.

“Sahana is a Free and Open Source Disaster Management system. It is a web based collaboration tool that addresses the common coordination problems during a disaster from finding missing people, managing aid, managing volunteers, tracking camps effectively between Government groups, the civil society (NGOs) and the victims themselves.” (Source: Sahana.lk)

A sad beginning
So, how did the Sahana project come to light?

The Sahana Free and Open Source project was quickly built over a 2-3 week period around the time of the Asian Tsunami to help coordinate the relief effort in Sri Lanka. It was initially built by a group of volunteers consisting mostly of the Sri Lankan IT industry and spearheaded by Lanka Software Foundation, a FOSS R&D NPO. An implementation of Sahana was authorized and deployed by CNO (The main government body in Sri Lanka coordinating the relief effort) to help coordinate all the data being captured. (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Seeing is believing
If by chance you’re involved with an NGO or a non-profit organisation that quickly needs to mobilize help in the face of a natural disaster, then by all means take Sahana for a spin (try online demo). Here’s a quick peek at the program’s snazzy web interface.View more screenshots here.

Help the Sahana team
Are you able to lend a hand in these troubled regions?

Over the last week, the core Sahana team has been engaged with deployments in Lebanon, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka as a reponse to the natural disasters and conflicts.
The Sahana team calls for the support of everyone in the community who have links, contacts or can in any way support the deployment of Sahana in these countries. (Source: Sahana.lk)

Your thoughts?
If you are using FOSS applications in your organisation, please share some info with us. What did you install? Did you ditch a commercial alternative? Is it web-based or a desktop app?

Happy computing!