Don’t you wish you could know when an accident or calamity will hit your area? With that information, you would then be better prepared and know how to react. Of course, everyone wants to be safe when a calamity strikes. The Philippine-based startup Tudlo now makes it possible for people to be informed through its disaster and emergency response app.
The Tudlo iOS app – the name means to teach in a Phillipine dialect – can tell its users if there is a natural disaster within their vicinity, such as an earthquake, flood, typhoon, fire, heat-wave, an act of terrorism, car or plane accidents, or even a pandemic alert.
Vince Loremia of Tudlo says the idea of the app struck him when he was affected by a flood and did not know what to do or where to go.
I was thinking if there will be an app that will let me know any disaster or emergency in the area through public reports (crowdsourcing) aside from government agencies – that will be of great help.
Android and alerts
Tudlo first released its iOS app this June. But prior to that, it has already received some recognition. The first was at the SmartDev Hackathon in Cebu where it won as the best disaster response app. It was also selected as one of the 20 finalists at the Ideaspace incubator’s national tech startup competition last year. Ideaspace gave Tudlo a three-day immersion and mentoring course.
Vince says the second version of the iOS app as well as its Android app will be coming out this July. The men behind the app are also currently working with the Albay provincial government and telco Smart Communications, to use this app for the province’s disaster management operations.
I tried the app and found it gives you a good outlook on what is happening in your locality. It also has information that gives users a general idea about what they should do if such emergencies occur.
Vince says that in its third version of the iOS app, they will be releasing a feature that will give users an emergency notification through push notifications in the app. Users will also be alerted via email and SMS should there be an emergency in their region. But right now all reports are visible only when the app is launched.
Looking forward, Tudlo plans to determine and execute possible revenue streams for the app. It also expects to get funding from a few organizations, including some from Smart.
(Edited by: Steven Milward)
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