KMC uses app to locate heritage

Disaster Reporting, an app developed to collect disaster-related information, has been used by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to collect information on culturally significant buildings in Kathmandu .

According to Srijhu Pradhan, division chief of Heritage and Tourism Development said it has been helpful in having an online database of such buildings, which could be used for various purposes--from preserving ancient craftsmanship to building efficient database of information for urban planning purposes.

“It is very important to preserve these culturally significant buildings and not to overlook them,” she said.

The app also has a collection of images of houses before the quake. Pradhan said that those who want to look at the designs of these buildings can get access through the database.

In May, ICIMOD and Kathmandu University had launched ‘Disaster Reporting’, an android application that enabled users to report disasters, where they could enter immediate relief requirements.

The application allows the user to select the type of disaster event. The group customised the same app for KMC.

 Shashish Maharjan, lecturer at Kathmandu University and coordinator of the project said there are two types of users: incident reporting where the general public can report a damaged building and secondly a detailed report as used by members of the KMC to keep track of hundreds of old buildings in the city.

Earlier, the app was used by a local disaster management committee of Kirtipur Municipality Ward-9. Sano-Paila, a non-government organisation, also used the application in Ward 14 of Bhaktapur Municipality.

source: the kathmandu post,8 july 2015