Sahana Software Foundation
 The Sahana Software Foundation Logo | |
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Founder |
Paul Currion Chamindra de Silva |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Focus | Disaster and emergency management |
| Location | |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Method | Free and open-source software |
Key people | Michael Howden, CEO |
| Website | SahanaFoundation.org |
Sahana Software Foundation is a Los Angeles, CA-based non-profit organization founded to promote the use of 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."[1] The foundation's Sahana family of software products include 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.[2] The word “Sahana” means “relief” in Sinhalese, one of the national languages of Sri Lanka.
History
The Sahana Software Foundation's roots began after the December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, when a team of Sri Lankan technology workers associated with the Lanka Software Foundation,[3] developed software that could be used by the government to coordinate assistance for those impacted by the tsunami. The software was designed to resolve common coordination problems that arise during a disaster, including facilitating the search for missing people, aid and volunteer management, and victim tracking across refugee camps.[4]
LSF, as the first owner of the intellectual property making up Sahana software, coordinated ongoing volunteer efforts to maintain the software, and managed 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.. It supported national and local authorities and relief agencies in their response to numerous large-scale, sudden-onset disasters.[5]
The software was originally deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO), which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). Additional funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), IBM and the US National Science Foundation (NSF).[6]
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.[7] 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, was appointed as its new CEO.[8]
Products
The Sahana Foundation supports three main software products:
- Eden: Eden is a humanitarian platform with a feature set which supports rapid customization, allowing its adaptation to existing processes and integration with existing emergency management systems, to support humanitarian needs either prior to or during a crisis. The name is an abbreviation of “Emergency Development Environment”.[9]
- Vesuvius: Vesuvius is focused on the disaster preparedness and response needs of the medical community, contributing to family reunification and assisting with hospital triage. It also provides client and staff registration capabilities for temporary sheltering and other emergency operations.
- Legacy Products: There are several other versions of Sahana software that are no longer under active development, but which were used in the response to many disasters and adopted by government agencies and humanitarian organizations for disaster preparedness programs. One notable legacy products is Krakatoa, which is a direct descendant of the original Sahana code base developed following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Deployments
In addition to the Sri Lankan government, Sahana software has also been officially deployed by the governments of the United States, Pakistan, the Philippines,[5] 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:[5]
- 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.[10]
- Peru Earthquake - Peru 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/Croatia.
Community Resilience Mapping Tool
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.[11][12]
Google Summer of Code project
Sahana has participating project in Google Summer of Code from 2006 through 2014,[13][14][15][16][17] a global program that offers student developers stipends to write code for various open source software projects.[18][19]
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.[4]
Sahana software and its role supporting post tsunami disaster relief in Sri Lanka were featured in the 2006 BBC World documentary "The Code-Breakers".[20]
In March 2010, the Sahana Software Foundation won non-profit disaster planning coordinator Private and Public Businesses, Inc.'s Best Practices Award awarded 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.[21]
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.[22]
In July 2010, the US Department of State's Humanitarian Information Unit recognized Sahana as one of the Information and Communications Technoloogy (ICT) vendors that had an impact on Haitian relief efforts.[23]
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.[9] The Sahana Software Foundation was recognized as a Computerworld Honors Laureate in the Human Services category for 2013.[24][25]
Notes
- ↑ "Sahana Software Foundation". SocialCoding4Good.com. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
- ↑ "Products". SahanaFoundation.org. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
- ↑ "The history of Sahana". Sahana Software Foundation.
- 1 2 "Sahana wins the 2006 social benefit award". FSF.org. 2007-03-26. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- 1 2 3 "Developing a Service Industry to Support the Sahana Disaster Management System". Technology Innovation Management Review. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "Sahana Eden Disaster Management Platform". OSGeo.org. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "About Us". SahanaFoundation.org. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "Sahana Software Foundation announces next CEO Michael Howden". SahanaFoundation.org. 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- 1 2 "Disaster Management Software Meets Sandy Challenge, Ready for Next Crisis". University of Maryland. 2013-03-29. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Assisting With The Jogjakarta Earthquake: Sahana Background". urRemote.com. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
- ↑ "LACCDR Project-Developed Resources". LAresilience.org. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
- ↑ "LA Builds Resilience Through Wide-Reaching Relationships". emergencymgmt.com. 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
- ↑ "Official Sahana Wiki Page for GSoC 2009". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "Official Sahana Wiki Page for GSoC 2010". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "Official Sahana Wiki Page for GSoC 2011". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "Official Sahana Wiki Page for GSoC 2012". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "Official Sahana Wiki Page for GSoC 2013". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "Google Summer of Code 2014: Crisis Map on Sahana Eden Platform". Google-Melange.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Google Summer of Code 2014: GIS Module for Sahana". Google-Melange.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "The Code-Breakers Asia Pacific Development Information Programme". archive.org. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Sahana Software Foundation Receives PPBI Best Practices Award". ppbi.org. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ↑ "Cool Vendors in Risk Management and Compliance, 2010". Gartner.com. 2010-04-13. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Haiti Earthquake: Breaking New Ground in the Humanitarian Information Landscape" (PDF). US State Department. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
- ↑ "Sahana Recognized as 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate". Sahana Software Foundation.
- ↑ "The Computerworld Honors Program Names 268 Laureates Using IT to Drive Business and Social Change". Market Wired.