NEW DELHI: As low-lying and densely populated areas in the NCT of Delhi suffer from severe waterlogging and infrastructure damage during heavy rainfall, the Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub at IIT Delhi’s Civil Engineering Department developed a pioneering mobile application called “IITD AabPrahari” for the flood management.
The AabPrahari app utilizes a citizen science approach, enabling residents to report real-time flooding incidents in and around their location. Since its experimental launch in August 2022 and its official release in September 2022, the app has facilitated the collection of detailed, geo-tagged information on flood events.
The app available on the Google Play Store allows users to send photos and measurements of flood depths at specific locations, which are automatically geo-tagged and sent to a central server.
An urban flood early warning system for the Barapullah basin based on this flood model is already in place, a statement said. “One of the AabPrahari app’s key strengths is its ability to engage citizens in flood management. By democratizing data collection, the app empowers individuals to play an active role in protecting their communities,” said Dr. Dhanya CT, project PI and Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi.