In the days following the impact of the Boxing Day Tsunami on Sri Lanka, in addition to the humanitarian crisis, it also became apparent that there was an information problem. Hundreds of programmers were assembled under the Lanka Software Foundation and over the course of a week created a web application to register missing persons, camps, and the swelling numbers of NGO's in Sri Lanka. This system was called Sahana - Sinhalese for 'relief'.

Since then, Sahana has been rewritten, and has been deployed at many of the large disasters over the past 5 years, and has won numerous open source awards and accolades.

The aspirations on the project are captured in the following goals: 

•       Primary: Help alleviate human suffering and help save lives through the efficient use of IT during a disaster

•       Bring together a diverse set of actors from Government, Emergency Management, NGOs, INGOs, spontaneous volunteers and victims themselves in responding effectively to a disaster

•       Empower the victims and their next of kin and better enable them to help themselves

•       Protect victim data and reduce the opportunity for data abuse

•        Provide a Free and Open Source solution end-to-end available to everyone 

Includes drinks and finger food sponsored by Novell (www.novell.com).

About The Speaker

Gavin Treadgold (Director - Kestrel Group Limited)

Gavin has had a lifelong interest in technology after being introduced to his first computer at the age of 10. He left university in 1996 to start a web development company and developed New Zealand's first online pharmacy.

After becoming involved in Civil Defence rescue in 1997, he became increasingly interested in how information technology could be applied to Emergency Management. Returning from an internship in Washington DC with the DC Emergency Management Agency in 2002, Gavin was founder of Kestrel Group - a risk, continuity and emergency management consultancy.

Gavin specialises in reviewing emergency management arrangements, developing plans, and co-ordinating exercises. His experience covers a range of sectors including CDEM, health, central government, lifelines and the private sector. Much of Gavin's work for Kestrel has focused on the details involved in producing operational response plans.

Gavin became involved in Sahana mid-way through 2005, and is a member of the Project Management Committee and a member of the Board.

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