Social media chatbots to help citizens brace for floods

AS Indonesia braces for monsoon floods, a local website says it will help emergency workers and residents who are already battling the coronavirus to better respond to crises.

PetaBencana.id, which means “disaster map”, uses artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet bots to monitor and respond to social media posts by crisis-hit communities, using them to map events such as floods, fires and earthquakes in real time.

Parts of South-East Asia have been hit by heavy rainfall and more is predicted during the monsoon season up until March with the onset of a La Nina weather system, characterised by unusually cold temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

“For Indonesia, they’re expecting a 40% increase in rainfall,” said Nashin Mahtani, director of PetaBencana.id.

The website was founded in 2013 and covered five cities before it went nationwide in February this year.

“We emphasise the need for realtime information because you cannot predict how the flood is going to happen.”

PetaBencana.id monitors words linked to disasters that are posted on Twitter and its AI-assisted “humanitarian chatbots” use Twitter, Facebook and the Telegram messaging service to engage with residents about disasters they have flagged up.

“When residents share information about their needs, the emergency agencies are better able to allocate their resources,” Mahtani said.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo this month urged ministers to prepare for the potentially hazardous impact of La Nina.

A typhoon and storm have brought floods to neighbouring Vietnam and the Philippines this month, forcing thousands to be evacuated from their homes in poor regions which are already suffering hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indonesia has an estimated 81,000km of coastline, making it particularly vulnerable to climate change. It has also struggled to stem the coronavirus pandemic, with about 400,000 cases and almost 14,000 deaths so far.

“Even in areas where people are used to dealing with floods, this time the response is going to be very different because we’re going to have to incorporate certain health protocols,” Mahtani pointed out.

“As emergency plans adapt, we anticipate that they’ll be changing to the situation as needed, which requires an even greater degree of coordination.”