Anticipate Extreme Weather, Disaster Maps And BNPB Disaster Chatbots WhatsApp DisasterBot

BancanaBot is a WhatsApp chatbot to report disaster (photo: Disaster Map)

JAKARTA - The Disaster Map Foundation, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), officially launched the first Humanitarian WhatsApp Chatbot, DisasterBot.

With the help of the first Artificial Intelligence (AI) of its kind, this chatbot will guide the Indonesian population to send disaster reports.

The reports are mapped in real-time on open source and free platforms, PetaBencana.id, where everyone can view and share catastrophic updates in real-time to make coordinated and proof-based decisions on safety and response.

In preparation for the upcoming extreme weather and in line with BNPB's vision for Resilient Indonesia 2045, the launch of theBot Disaster on WhatsApp is an important step in strengthening preparedness and reducing the risk of community-based disasters.

"If in the past we focused on disaster mitigation, now we must focus more on reducing disaster risk. If in the past 'what to do', now 'how to do'," explained BNPB Deputy for System and Strategy Raditya Jati in a statement received in Jakarta.

According to an IPCC report, one of the biggest obstacles to adapting disaster risk reduction plans is the lack of specific and timely local information.

Here the role of PetaBencana.id is to overcome this gap by collecting real-time updates directly from the road point, asking for residents' reports via automatic chatbots on social media and instant messaging applications.

"The scale of the challenges we face today cannot be handled by just one institution. It is very important to allow every resident to be able to participate in disaster risk reduction and recovery efforts, and it is our mission at the Peta Disaster Foundation," said Nashin Mahtani, director of the Peta Disaster Foundation.

Realizing that during disasters people will use the applications they often use with increasing frequency, PetaBencana.id is deliberately designed to take advantage of the use of active social media and instant messaging apps.

"With more than 80 million active WhatsApp users in Indonesia, the launch of theBot Disaster on WhatsApp is a new milestone in allowing residents throughout the archipelago to participate and benefit from this free disaster information sharing system," concluded Nashin.

Every resident in Indonesia can now submit a disaster report anonymously by sending a message to +62-8584-BENSANA ([phone] or bit.ly/BanaBotWA).