THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mapathon Keralam project, the ambitious mapping initiative of state IT mission, is taking cartography skills to the grass roots for better disaster preparedness. As a first step, it has already trained district level technical officers and will follow it up by training block and village level technical officers in the coming weeks. The project has plans to tie-up with Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) to create an awareness among elected representative in local bodies.
“The mandate of Mapathon is to create local capabilities because it requires continuous changes according to the changes in natural and physical assets,” said an officer with the project.The project got a boost after a high-level empowered committee of the government approved `4.24 cr in the first week of December. The money will be utilised to train and build infrastructure for campaign monitoring and data coordination.
The money will be funded by Rebuild Kerala Initiative (RKI), an agency set up in the wake of flood to oversee future development of the state. “We are building capacities in local bodies to make better Disaster Management Plans,” said Revenue Secretary and Chief Executive of RKI, Venu V. The maps are considered a tool for local authorities for disaster preparedness. Micro-maps are required to study the location and then plan activities for a specific area. The map would help in faster diversion of flood water, faster rehabilitation to safer location, finding alternative routes to reach areas isolated in the flood.
Mapathon has come a long way since its official launch in October. It trained 100 master trainers who later trained 1,200 volunteers from colleges. It has mapped over 11,400 government offices so far. A free online platform called ‘Open Street Map’ is being used for the project. “We will go to geography students and train them,” said the officer. “Anyone with a computer or mobile phone and an internet can participate in the project,” he added.