Sahana Software Foundation is a Los Angeles, California-based non-profit organization founded to promote free and open-source software (FOSS) for disaster and emergency management. The foundation's mission statement is to "save lives by providing information management solutions that enable organizations and communities to better prepare for and respond to disasters."[2] The foundation's Sahana family of software products includes Eden, designed for humanitarian needs management; Vesuvius, focused on the disaster preparedness needs of the medical community; and legacy earlier versions of Sahana software including Krakatoa, descended from the original Sahana code base developed following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.[3] The word "Sahana" means "relief" in Sinhalese, one of two national languages of Sri Lanka.
The Sahana Software Foundation's roots began after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004, when a team of Sri Lankan technology workers associated with the Lanka Software Foundation (LSF)[4] developed software that the government could use to coordinate assistance for those affected by the tsunami.[citation needed] Sahana was created for information management and collaboration in the aftermath.[5] The software was designed to resolve common coordination problems during a disaster, including facilitating the search for missing people, aid and volunteer management, and victim tracking across refugee camps.[6]
LSF, as the first owner of the intellectual property making up Sahana software, coordinated ongoing volunteer efforts to maintain the software, and managed the associated donated funds. Sahana software grew into a global free and open-source software project supported by hundreds of volunteer contributors from dozens of countries.[citation needed] It supported national and local authorities and relief agencies in their responses to numerous large-scale, sudden-onset disasters.[7]
In early 2009, the directors of the Lanka Software Foundation decided to allow the Sahana group to spin off into its own organization. In 2009, the Sahana Software Foundation was established as a non-profit organization registered in the state of California.[9] Mark Prutsalis was appointed as the group's first CEO.
In July 2014, the foundation announced that Michael Howden, a member of the board of directors, had been appointed as its new CEO.[10]
Since September 2016, Devin Balkind has served as President.[1]
Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System
The Sahana Free and Open Source Disaster Management System is emergency management and disaster preparedness software developed by the Sahana Software Foundation. Conceived during the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami to help manage the disaster, Sahana software was deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO), which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). Funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The project has grown, with deployments during other disasters such as the Asian Quake in Pakistan (2005), the Southern Leyte mudslide disaster in Philippines (2006), the Jogjakarta earthquake in Indonesia (2006) and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Sahana currently has three projects: Eden, being developed in Python;[11] Agasti, being developed in PHP; and the localization project, L10n.
Community Resilience Mapping Tool
Screen shot showing the Sahana Software Foundation's Community Resilience Mapping Tool, developed for the County of Los Angeles
In 2012, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) and Emergency Network Los Angeles, a voluntary agency, reached out to nongovernmental community organizations working in disaster and pandemic preparedness to find a better way of communicating with LA County's diverse population, to build resilience. Along with the RAND Corporation, the nonprofit policy think tank, the groups started a project called Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience (LACCDR), to educate and engage community leaders to promote resiliency in Los Angeles County.
As part of the program, Sahana Software Foundation developed the Community Resilience Mapping Tool, to help communities collect data on vulnerabilities, hazards and resources within their own territories. The data allows communities to identify populations that could be affected by disasters, and plan the best way to allocate resources to help those people. Barriers like limited English proficiency, or low trust in public health, can be addressed through the tool.[12][13]
Sahana has developed into a community founded by a humanitarian consultant, Paul Currion, and the Sahana project lead, Chamindra de Silva. Much of their work is based on the more generic ideals of "humanitarian-FOSS", where the ideals of FOSS are applied for building humanitarian-ICT applications or applications built to help alleviate human suffering. The community consists of a mailing list and an active wiki with membership including emergency management practitioners, humanitarian consultants, crisis management academics, and free and open-source developers from around the world. Domain representation in this group includes members from ISCRAM, UNDP, Red Cross, IBM, Saravodaya (the largest NGO in Sri Lanka), and Australian Fire Services.
In addition to the Sri Lankan government, Sahana software has also been officially deployed by the governments of the United States, Pakistan, the Philippines,[7] Bangladesh, India, Taiwan, and China. It was also part of the Strong Angel III, a test of US civil and military disaster response.
Sahana software has been deployed in conjunction with the following disasters and aid organizations:[7]
Tsunami - Sri Lanka 2005 - Officially deployed in the Center of National Operations (CNO) for the Government of Sri Lanka.
AsianQuake - Pakistan 2005 - Officially deployed with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for the Government of Pakistan.
Southern Leyte mudslide disaster - Philippines 2006 - Officially deployed with the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) and the Office of Civil Defense for the Government of the Philippines.
Sarvodaya - Sri Lanka 2006 - Deployed for Sri Lanka's largest NGO.
Terre des Hommes - Sri Lanka 2006 - Deployed with new Child Protection Module for Switzerland-based Terre des Hommes, the county's largest private aid organization for children.
Yogjakarta earthquake - Indonesia 2006 - Deployed by the Australian Computer Society (ACS), the Indonesian-based urRemote aid organization, and the Indonesian Whitewater Association and Indonesian Rescue Source NGOs.[22]
Peru earthquake - 2007 - Deployed and localized into Spanish.
Myanmar cyclone - Myanmar 2008 - Deployed and localized into Burmese.
Haiti earthquake - Haiti 2010 - Deployed and localized in Port-au-Prince and Haiti.
Floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia 2014 - Deployed and localized in Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia.
Research
The Sahana Project has resulted in independent research projects. Professor Louiqa Raschid of the University of Maryland was leading a team in Sahana and Disaster Management research in 2013.[23]
Sahana has been presented at numerous conferences, workshops, and events, and has had one paper accepted for an international conference;[7] a paper on Sahana and Disaster Management was accepted for the 2nd International Conference on Information and Automation 2006.[24] Due to the lack of previous research in ICT for disaster management, research has played a key role in Sahana's development.[25]
Awards and recognition
Sahana software was the recipient of the 2006 Free Software Foundation Award for Projects of Social Benefit. The award is presented to a free software project that intentionally and significantly benefits society through collaboration to accomplish an important social task.[6]
Sahana software and its role supporting post-tsunami disaster relief in Sri Lanka were featured in the 2006 BBC World documentary The Code-Breakers.[26]
In March 2010, the Sahana Software Foundation won non-profit disaster planning coordinator Private and Public Businesses, Inc.'s Best Practices Award, given for exemplary planning practices or responses to a critical incident. The award recognized the foundation's role under the leadership of former CEO Mark Prutsalis for providing coordination and support within 48 hours of the Haiti earthquake.[27]
In April 2010, Sahana was recognized as one of four Cool Vendors in research company Gartner's annual Risk Management and Compliance report, citing Sahana's innovation.[28]
In 2013, Sahana was recognized by the University of Maryland as "the world's leading open source software program for the rapid deployment of humanitarian response management", after its disaster management support role helping New York City police officers respond to Hurricane Sandy.[11] The Sahana Software Foundation was recognized as a Computerworld Honors Laureate in the Human Services category for 2013.[29][30][non-primary source needed]
Free Software Foundation (FSF) grants two annual awards. Since 1998, FSF has granted the award for Advancement of Free Software and since 2005, also the Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit.
The Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) (French: Équipe d'intervention en cas de catastrophe (EICC)) is a rapidly deployable team of 200 Canadian Forces personnel. It provides assistance to disaster-affected regions for up to 40 days. DART's headquarters is located in Kingston, Ontario. DART was created by the Canadian government in 1996 in the aftermath of the inadequate response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when Canada's aid arrived after the peak of a cholera epidemic. The government determined that it would be of the utmost importance in many disasters if it was able to rapidly deploy a group of people until long-term aid arrived. DART has an annual budget of CA$500,000, although during specific incidents the Parliament of Canada can choose to temporarily allocate millions of dollars to DART to fund their response effort. For example, Operation Torrent, the aid mission to Turkey in the wake of the 1999 earthquake which left 17,000 people dead, saw CA$15 million used by DART in the response.
Sri Lanka was one of the countries struck by the tsunami resulting from the Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004. On January 3, 2005, Sri Lankan authorities reported 30,000+ confirmed deaths.
Free/open-source software – the source availability model used by free and open-source software (FOSS) – and closed source are two approaches to the distribution of software.
The Google Summer of Code, often abbreviated to GSoC, is an international annual program in which Google awards stipends to contributors who successfully complete a free and open-source software coding project during the summer. As of 2022, the program is open to anyone aged 18 or over, no longer just students and recent graduates. It was first held from May to August 2005. Participants get paid to write software, with the amount of their stipend depending on the purchasing power parity of the country where they are located. Project ideas are listed by host organizations involved in open-source software development, though students can also propose their own project ideas.
Medair is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) whose purpose is to relieve human suffering in some of the world's most remote and devastated places. Medair aims to assist people affected by natural disasters and conflict to recover with dignity through the delivery of quality humanitarian aid.
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader Free and open-source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources.
Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 2 or CA-TF2 is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Los Angeles County, California. CA-TF2 is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Malteser International is an international non-governmental aid agency for humanitarian aid of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Developed in 2005 from the foreign aid service of Malteser Germany, and having the status of an independent eingetragener Verein since 2013, the agency has more than 50 years of experience in humanitarian relief. It currently implements around 100 projects in some 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas. The organization's General Secretariat is located in Cologne, Germany with regional headquarters for Europe and the Americas located in Cologne and New York City respectively. The membership of Malteser International consists of 27 national associations and priories of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who are responsible for supporting the organization within their jurisdictions.
Humanity First is an international charity that provides disaster relief and long term development assistance to vulnerable communities in 52 countries across 6 continents. The organisation is run by volunteers with diverse skillsets across the world and has access to thousands of extra volunteers worldwide. Volunteer staff in all areas often pay their own expenses to support the international projects.
The Emergency Architects Foundation is a French non-governmental organization, reconnue d'utilité publique. It is organised as a not-for-profit foundation with the French Order of Architects as supporters and is accredited by the United Nations and the European Union. The Emergency Architects Foundation is also present in Australia and in Canada . The aim of Emergency Architects is to bring help and technical aid to the victims of natural, technological and human disasters, not only in safety and security evaluations of the populations but also in post-disaster reconstruction programs focused on long-term development and risk mitigation.
The Code-Breakers is a two-part (2x22') BBC World documentary on free open-source software (FOSS) and computer programming that started on BBC World TV on 10 May 2006. It investigates how poor countries are using FOSS applications for economic development, and includes stories and interviews from around the world. The film examines whether free and open-source software might be the bridge for the widening digital divide. A 40-minute version of The Code-Breakers is available for free download online as of 2014.
Asia Source was an event series that promoted and coordinated the use of free and open-source software (FOSS) in Asia. It took place three times: the first event was hosted in Bangalore, India in 2005, the second in Sukabumi in West Java, Indonesia in January 2007. The third event was held in Silang, Cavite in the Philippines in 2009.
IsraAID is an Israel-based non-governmental organization that responds to emergencies all over the world with targeted humanitarian help. This includes disaster relief, from search and rescue to rebuilding communities and schools, to providing aid packages, medical assistance, and post-psychotrauma care. IsraAID has also been involved in an increasing number of international development projects with focuses on agriculture, medicine, and mental health.
RedR is an international NGO whose stated mission is to “rebuild lives in times of disaster by training, supporting, and providing aid workers to relief programmes across the world.” It was originally an acronym for Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief, although it is no longer used as such.
Relief 2.0 or disaster relief 2.0 is the deployment of digital information techniques in the management of disaster relief.
Crisis mapping is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict. Crisis mapping projects usually allows large numbers of people, including the public and crisis responders, to contribute information either remotely or from the site of the crisis. One benefit of the crisis mapping method over others is that it can increase situational awareness, since the public can report information and improve data management.
Outreachy (previously the Free and Open Source Software Outreach Program for Women) is a program that organizes three-month paid internships with free and open-source software projects for people who are typically underrepresented in those projects. The program is organized by the Software Freedom Conservancy and was formerly organized by The GNOME Project and the GNOME Foundation.
Alison Thompson is a global humanitarian volunteer and the Founder of Third Wave Volunteers, a United States based nonprofit that responds to disasters and crises around the world. She was born in Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Australia.
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