A community-driven digital platform, Banpani.org, has been launched to address the challenge of coordinating relief efforts in flood-affected areas of Assam. The platform uses a shared live map to bring together information on flood-related needs, offers of help, and rehabilitation efforts, enabling communities and relief groups to respond more efficiently.
Developed by Partha Borthakur, a Jorhat native working with the agri-technology business incubator of Assam Agricultural University, along with a few friends, the initiative aims to improve relief coordination and reduce duplication of efforts. Borthakur noticed that multiple relief vehicles were traveling to the same area while other flood-affected locations were receiving little or no assistance, highlighting the need for better coordination.
The platform allows users to place a pin on the map and report a specific need, such as water, ORS, medicines, boats, or other forms of assistance. Relief groups and volunteers can use the platform’s ‘Gaps’ view to identify areas that have not yet received assistance. Groups operating relief convoys can also announce their routes, helping reduce duplication of relief efforts.
Banpani.org is available in English, Assamese, and Hindi, and phone numbers remain private. The website has a community-based system for information submitted to the map, requiring an individual submission to be reported by three or more people before it is reflected, helping build greater confidence in the information being mapped.
The platform also includes information on verified donation drop-off points, and its live map is intended to show flood-related needs and areas where relief efforts are taking place. Born out of a coordination gap, the idea for Banpani came as floodwaters affected several parts of Assam and relief operations gathered pace.
Borthakur described Banpani as a tool that belongs to the community rather than to an individual or organization. The platform is free, open-source, and built by volunteers, and its usefulness depends on people on the ground contributing information.
While Banpani is not intended to replace established emergency response systems, it aims to make relief coordination more responsive to actual needs on the ground, rather than relying on assumptions about what affected communities require.
The platform is part of a broader emergence of technology-driven relief initiatives during the current floods in Assam, and its developers have indicated that the underlying technology and coordination models could potentially be adapted for disaster response beyond Assam.
