Instead of the typical gaming or social networking app, a group of high school students used their first-hand experiences from the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami to design one that helps users find a safe shelter in an emergency.
Instead of the typical gaming or social networking app, a group of high school students used their first-hand experiences from the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami to design one that helps users find a safe shelter in an emergency.
The free downloadable application, SHelper, combining "Shelter" and "Help," earned the top honor at the industry ministry’s contest for the four students from Miyagi Technical High School in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, and also high praise at another contest by a university.
At the press of the screen, the free application shows nearby evacuation centers and sends their locations in the event of an emergency to up to three people that users registered via a short message service.
In another useful feature, the app can also scale back on the drain of smartphone batteries to half of normal by suspending some of the phone's functions. This can be a lifesaver in an emergency when finding a source to recharge an electronic device is nearly impossible.
The students spent four months completing the project that they undertook for their information research club, an activity outside of school hours.
“We will be very happy to be of service to many people with our skills we acquired during our extracurricular activities,” said Kota Sasaki, a member of the group and a third-year student.
The app won the best prize at the U-20 Programming Contest held on Oct. 6 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Participants aged 20 or younger are eligible to enter the contest.
IT company executives on the jury of the Ritsumeikan University’s contest of software programs by high school students, the ICT Challenge + R, highly commended the students for developing a resource desperately needed in the event of an emergency.
“They know exactly what people will need because they experienced the disaster,” one of the executives said.
The contest was held in September on Ritsumeikan's campus in Shiga Prefecture.
The students hit on the idea of developing the app after they became anxious about the whereabouts of family members following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Mobile phone services were disrupted in the prefecture and elsewhere in the Tohoku region in the aftermath of the disaster.
The students input 1,919 evacuation centers based on the information provided by the Miyagi prefectural government's division that addresses disasters. The teenagers plan to eventually show such locations for the rest of the country as well on their app.
“You will be able to find evacuation centers even if you were hampered by a natural disaster while traveling,” Sasaki said.
The students said they plan to maintain disaster awareness preparations "by updating the data on the 11th day of each month, in association with 3/11.”
The app is available at www.irc.hira-tech.net/shelper.php (in Japanese).