Operationalizing crowdsourcing through mobile applications for disaster management in India

The lack of real-time data on emergent disasters often restrains the decision maker's ability to counter its impacts, especially in developing countries like India. In this regard, the idea of leveraging mobile applications ‘apps’ for crowdsourcing disaster-related information has recently gained high prominence. To operationalize app-based crowdsourcing, this paper methodically investigates the current state of 33 freely-accessible disaster-related mobile apps in India. The study finds that majority of these apps are primarily educational, and their overall outreach is highly limited. It concludes with specific suggestions for enhancing community outreach, ensuring user-friendly interface and promoting Global Positioning System ‘GPS’ based apps.