Mapping flood-prone areas in Bengaluru: NGO takes up crowdsourced initiative
The Hindu
The tragic death of 23-year-old Bhanu Rekha after being stuck in a flooded underpass near K.R. Circle rocked the city earlier this year in May. With the monsoon setting in and rains starting to lash the city once again, Bengaluru-based NGO Reap Benefits has started an initiative to map flood-prone areas across the city to nudge the officials into action and prevent unfortunate incidents.
The tragic death of 23-year-old Bhanu Rekha after being stuck in a flooded underpass near K.R. Circle rocked the city earlier this year in May. With the monsoon setting in and rains starting to lash the city once again, Bengaluru-based NGO Reap Benefits has started an initiative to map flood-prone areas across the city to nudge the officials into action and prevent unfortunate incidents.
The initiative is crowdsourced and citizens can send the details of flood-prone areas to the WhatsApp bot number 8095500118. Once the sender sends the keyword ‘floodmap’ to the number, the bot responds with a flow that asks for more details.
Started about a week back, the initiative has so far seen about a hundred data points coming in from people across the city. It aims to touch 1,000 by the end of July.
Based on the collected data, the organisation plans to compile a report which would be submitted to the BBMP commissioner.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said 21 rain-related deaths were reported in the State due to recent rains. As per reports, last year between June and September, monsoon fury cost 96 lives, crops in 5.8 lakh hectares of land, 1,471 bridges and 2,223 km of road in Karnataka. The total estimated loss was more than ₹7,600 crore.
Reap Benefit’s platform uses open-source technology to collect and build data, and mobilise grassroots-level movements to address civic challenges.
The idea for ‘flood mapping’ was the result of a ‘street audit’ exercise conducted by Reap Benefits this year in June around World Environment Day. A total of 800 street audits were performed across 65 wards in South Bengaluru and near Vidhan Sabha.
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