Initial Research - Killian Harte

Currently existing emergency apps that we can look at for inspiration on what to include and what to leave out:

This website recommends that you keep a portable charger for any devices that use emergency alerts.

Option to automatically call family members for you during emergencies (very useful and convenient in a stressful scenario).
Notifies you if family members are in designated locations (can save time spent searching for missing family members).
Free version is limited place alerts (should we ignore compromises in a hypothetical app?).
Detects storms brewing in a town for example (predicts emergencies rather than responding when it’s too late to prepare).

Extreme amounts of information on screen at a time (could be helpful, could be overwhelming)
Shows general weather if there are no dangerous events (could discourage engagement if there is nothing interesting going on).

Emphasis on instant voice communication over texting or calling, similar to walkie talkies (how user friendly this is would have to be studied).
Private and public channels (contacting family, neighbours, and communities).
Simple interface designed for all ages (one massive button for calling is hard to miss).
Uses both Wi-Fi and cellular (brings up an issue with working in poor signal areas).
Leaving it on means you can lock the phone and still be called (won’t work if the phone is off).
Drains battery too quickly (could cause problems in an emergency).

Updates every hour (good if that means analysis updates, bad if that means system updates).
Has detailed advice for direct emergencies (immediate problems like bleeding are very important to sort out).
Directions to nearby hospitals (finding somewhere to escape to and finding somewhere in case of severe injury).
Quizzes for testing your knowledge of emergencies (memorisation could be more useful than searching for instructions).

Shows five alerts at a time (the number of emergencies at once would have to be studied).
Very detailed alerts (Type of disaster, date, starting – ending times, location).
Covers weather, evacuations, hazardous material, nuclear power plants, 911 phone outages, riots, explosions, “and more” (do we want to include unnatural disasters?).

Displays a world map, highlighting danger zones with disaster icons (might be difficult to use if there are too many alerts near each other).
Shows number of people, households, and countries exposed to an emergency (not a high priority if we want to focus on helping people deal with disasters).
Shows weather disasters like floods and droughts, man made disasters like biomedical issues, and epidemics such as cholera (what is the limit of AI to predicting issues spreading?).

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/22/googles-ai-flood-forecast

Detected natural floods 7 days beforehand
Limited to natural floods (unable for floods caused by climate change for example).