MyHaz App will allow citizens share information on hazards: NEMO Director

Users of the newly launched myHAZ-VCT application will not only benefit from being a part of the monitoring process of local hazards, they will also be privy to a wealth of useful information on how to navigate these dangers.
 
The app was officially launched last Friday, January 28, at the conference room of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO),with a small ceremony that included an in depth demonstration on its features and how they can be used. 

“We are presenting the app to you, not just an app that we control but a way for citizens and community members to all share information about what they see happening in the community. They can share with us and we can actually see first hand what is happening and be able to review and clarify and verify what is happening in the communities,” Director of NEMO, Michelle Forbes said. 

MyHAZ-VCT was approximately five years in the making and was created through a collaboration with NEMO, The UWI Seismic Research Centre(UWI-CRC), and the British Geological Survey. 

And Forbes took the opportunity to thank all partners involved in bringing the citizen science based app to fruition. 

She said they were still working alongside The UWI-SRC and British Geological Survey in the rollout of the app, which is now available to all Vincentians through the App Store and Play Store for free.

“It’s really a demonstration of our continued knowledge management programme here in St Vincent and the Grenadines where we continue to inform persons on the various hazards that can impact us and you too can actually share information of what is happening in the community,” Forbes said. 

The average Vincentian citizen is invited to register for an account, once they have downloaded the MyHAZ-VCT app. This requires a minimum of a username and valid email address.

As a user, one has the opportunity to collect, view, and share observations of natural hazards locally through the use of photos and/or videos.

These observations are verified remotely by managers to avoid fake information being circulated on the app. 

In addition to volcanic hazards, observations can also be made for hazards relating to earthquakes, landslides, storms/floods and tsunamis. 

There is also an allocated section for ‘other observations’. 

“People using the app can have the assurance that it’s authentic so we have issues these days of what is fake news or correct information or not. This wouldn’t take place here because the information you see on the app, you know, would have been verified…,” Professor Richard Robertson of the UWI-SRC said via video at last Friday’s launch. 

He added that “people using the app would not only benefit by being part of essentially the monitoring of these hazards, but also you’re getting information back on what you have put on as well as other users “. 

Robertson noted that MyHAZ-VCT employs a citizen science approach, which gives citizens the capacity to provide information about what they’ve observed in their communities as it relates to hazards. 

The scientist explained that this in turn “allows us to have a much wider range of censors, of people, of observers throughout St Vincent because the scientists and NEMO can’t be everywhere, so it allows us to gather information from a wide range of geographical settings in St Vincent”. 

“It means that it is certainly going to be useful to NEMO and Seismic for monitoring the volcano and other hazards in St Vincent.

It’s going to be useful to us who would then find that information, another element of data and help us to understand what’s happening and provide the advice as needed…” he said.