AquaRoute Bangladesh

Introduction

Floods are some of the most devastating natural disasters in Bangladesh. Every year, whole communities have to deal with increased water level, damaged infrastructure, disrupted supply chain, and delayed access to food, medical supplies, and emergency services. In the course of investigating disaster response, we found out that disaster responders have access to maps, weather forecasts, and field reports, but still need to find answers to several key questions: Which communities might become inaccessible, and where should aid go first? As two freshman high-schoolers passionate about technology and problem-solving, we aimed to develop a tool that turns data into action. This project was inspired by the idea that technology should do more than just describe a problem, but help make better decisions in a time-critical situation. This is the philosophy that lies behind AquaRoute Bangladesh.

What it does

AquaRoute Bangladesh is an AI-powered flood access intelligence platform designed for disaster responders. Contrary to the existing applications showing presence of floodwater, AquaRoute combines flood conditions, roads, shelters, communities, predictive models of risk and calculates which communities might become isolated in the nearest future. The platform helps responders:

Identify roads at risk of being flooded or blocked
Predict which communities are likely to be cut off from external contact
Prioritize communities based on urgency and aid priority
Compare aid delivery routes using trucks, boats, and other means
Identify regions needing human verification
Integrate field reports from responders
Create an operational brief of incident for decision makers

The general goal is to help responders take actions before their access becomes impossible.

How we built it

AquaRoute was developed as a full-stack disaster-response dashboard focusing on decision making. It was built using:

Next.js as a frontend application
TypeScript to increase reliability and scalability of the project
Tailwind CSS as an UI toolkit
Geospatial interactive mapping for visual representation of floods and route analysis
Fake AI models of flood forecasting and access risk analysis
Scoring systems for calculating road risk, community isolation, route safety, and aid priorities

A realistic scenario of floods was modeled based on flood-prone regions of northeastern Bangladesh and several operational datasets including:

Flood extent layers
Roads and road networks
Shelters locations
Communities information
Risk predictions
Field reports
Emergency alerts

Instead of building just a simple map, the focus was made on developing a process similar to how real emergency coordinators analyze risks, prioritize resources, and make deployment decisions.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges was finding a difference between a data dashboard and decision support system. Initially, emphasis was put on data visualization, but it became apparent that responders need better decisions, not more data. That was why the project had to be reframed from the point of view of a crisis-coordinator managing aid delivery. Other challenges included:

Designing realistic risk scoring systems
Balancing between prediction and uncertainty
Making sure AI recommendations are explainable
Developing intelligent route planning algorithm
Building a system that keeps control over human decisions, not handing them over to AI

Also, we got introduced to concepts related to geospatial analysis, disaster management, and responsible AI that we did not know about before.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

AquaRoute is different from conventional flood mapping in several aspects. Our major accomplishments are:

Development of predictive access-risk analysis system rather than static visualization
Creation of community isolation scoring system
Designing an aid priority ranking algorithm
Integration of field reports and human verification process
Implementing confidence scores and uncertainty indicators
Focusing on responsible AI and keeping human oversight over the system
Development of the solution oriented towards humanitarian impact

Most of all, we managed to convert a complex problem of disaster response into understandable and actionable platform.

What we learned

This project showed us that software development involves much more than writing code. It requires thinking about systems and consequences. AquaRoute taught us how to:

Make disaster response plans
Work with geospatial data and mapping
Build AI-based decision support system
Apply human-centered design approach
Develop products
Model risks
Collaborate in a team

We also learned that innovations emerge where disciplines meet each other. By combining technologies, humanitarian response, and prediction analytics we figured out how software can deliver social impact.

Future directions for AquaRoute Bangladesh

This project is just a starting point in a larger vision. Some of the future enhancements are:

Satellite images pipeline
Live flood forecast data
OpenStreetMap road network intelligence
Population and vulnerability datasets
Offline mobile field reporting app
Support of multiple languages (Bangla and English)
Workflow of NGOs and government coordination
Real-time field verification systems

The ultimate goal is to transform AquaRoute into a platform that will help respond to disaster situations in Bangladesh and other flood-prone regions around the world. As two high school freshmen, we understand that it is just the beginning of our journey. We may not have years of experience, large teams, and unlimited resources, but we have curiosity, motivation, and believe that technology can solve meaningful problems. AquaRoute Bangladesh was born as a hackathon project, but it embodies a much larger concept: that young people can create useful tools. We hope it is just the first of many solutions that will make communities safer, stronger, and more resilient.