Using information provided by Central Water Commission (CWC) of India, Google will now provide flood alerts for different parts of the country. It has put together data from 170 areas where the CWC has active observation stations, Google mentioned in an official blog post.
In the wake of recent natural disasters in the country, Google has tied up with India authorities to ensure real time information on the water-levels in various water bodies in India. This information can be accessed by the user through Google Now cards, Google App, Google Maps and the Google Public Alerts homepage.
“We’re constantly working to improve our Google Crisis Response tools to make critical information more accessible around natural disasters. Through Public Alerts we show relevant official weather, public safety and earthquake alerts to give people the information they need to make informed decisions in times of crisis”, says Payal Patel in the blog-post.
The role played by the Internet has been commendable during the time of crisis recently. When Chennai was struck by catastrophic floods last year, Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ feature had helped immensely with determining the location of people. Similarly, large amounts of important information related to emergency helplines had been swiftly exchanged using various social media platforms. Now, Google seems to be preparing us better for disaster control by offering this useful information.
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