This month has been a really tough year for the people in Florida, back to back to hurricanes, one of them being a category 5, just shows how powerful Mother Nature is. 16 people lost their lives to the storms and many more were left stranded due to the floods. Although we cannot match the strength of natural disasters, we can try to help out the people in need as much as possible. Rapid Response is a mobile app, compatible with both Android and iOS, and provides the users with the locations of the nearest emergency services and other resources that might prove useful for someone in need. Rapid Response also provides a real-time natural disaster tracking system using NASA API and GDACS API that equips the app with live tracking globally. Furthermore, it provides an emergency service through an SOS button on the home page that contacts the nearest hospital services and brings help to your doorstep.
The app utilizes a React-Native front end with a node.js and express backend along with Streamlit. MongoDB is also utilized to store the relief providers' information. Getting into this project, the idea seemed simple and helpful, easy to make and manage. However, we had no idea what we had signed up for. From setting up the React-Native front end to configuring the MongoDB, it would be safe to say that we faced hurdles every step along the way. Not only did we face problems with the code, fatigue was also a really big factor; sitting in front of your computer for HOURS on end is not a joke. We are not kidding when we say that we actually almost gave half way through day 1 and almost scratched the entire project. If it were not for that one small breakthrough we made at the end of day 1, we would have either completely dropped out or opted for a different project entirely. But we are proud to say that we have finished the project successfully and have actually built something we can be proud of; our hard work bore fruit.
This hackathon was a learning experience for us. Most of us being first time hackers, we really gained crucial experience in not tech stacks, but also problem solving. We are really proud of the fact that we did not give up and made a working project in the end. We are really glad we got to attend HackUTA6 and even if we do not win, we had a lots of fun and learnt a lot of things. It was totally worth it!
Talking about what next for Rapid Response, the app is not even close to what we had aimed for it be; we aim to implement AI chatbot services and further refine the front end of the app to make it more user friendly. We are also aiming to get a better data analysis on the backend using Streamlit that enables EMS services to get better real time data on the shelter capacity, food rations and other such stuff. We also aim to separate the admin and user interface, enabling the admins to have oversight over the provision of relief for all the users. There are endless possibilities we can think of! Had we had another 24 hours, we are confident we could have completely turned the app around.
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