Skip to main content

Fujitsu

Global

Archived content

NOTE: this is an archived page and the content is likely to be out of date.

Fujitsu Begins Validity Study of a Participatory Disaster Prevention System for Vietnam's Thừa Thiên Huế Province

Will evaluate effectiveness of collecting information with smartphones

Fujitsu Limited,Fujitsu Vietnam Ltd.

Tokyo and Hanoi, March 10, 2015

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Vietnam Limited today announced that, with support from the Vietnam Office of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), they have begun to study the effectiveness of a participatory disaster prevention system for Thừa Thiên Huế Province in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In the system, resident representatives visually measure and use a smartphone app to report on river water levels and rainfall amounts at major locations within the province, and also to send images of conditions in neighboring areas and their comments, along with smartphone GPS and time data. This data is collected in Fujitsu's datacenter for use by the province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for its disaster prevention and mitigation efforts.

With the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Fujitsu and Fujitsu Vietnam will conduct this study through December 2015, and then the effectiveness of the resident-participatory system will be verified by comparing it to the effects of disaster prevention and mitigation activities based on measurements from conventional sensors and outdoor cameras. In parallel with these efforts, by using data mining of Twitter traffic over the past two years in Vietnam, Fujitsu will analyze the relationship between the content of Twitter messages and the places and times where actual disasters occurred.

Fujitsu and Fujitsu Vietnam are providing the smartphone application used in this study, a platform for data collection, aggregation, and analysis of disaster predictions, a website for disaster information, and an environment for analyzing Twitter information.

Background

Thừa Thiên Huế Province, located in central Vietnam, is an area frequented by typhoons and tropical cyclones, and there is an urgent need to develop measures to protect against damage caused by wind, floods, and landslides. Because equipping areas with sensors and outdoor cameras requires much time and money, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, which is heading disaster prevention efforts with the objective of developing the country's agricultural sector, wanted a solution that could be deployed quickly and economically.

Overall Image of a Participatory Disaster Prevention Information System

Overview of the Study

1. Study Period

January - December, 2015

2. Place

Area around the Ta Luong Bridge on upstream Bo River and A Roang Village on upstream Huong River in Thừa Thiên Huế Province (approximately 5,000 square kilometers, with a population of about 1.1 million), Vietnam

3. Objective

  1. Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of this study, in which observation results are obtained from visual confirmation of river water levels and rainfall amounts by residents, versus the effectiveness of information collected from conventional sensors and outdoor cameras.
  2. Implementation of a system for using Twitter comments from residents as a source of disaster-prevention information.
  3. Raise awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation among residents of Thừa Thiên Huế Province.

4. Partner Organizations

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and residents of Thừa Thiên Huế Province.

5. Study Equipment and System Environments Provided by Fujitsu

  1. Smartphones
  2. Smartphone application: two-way communications application
  3. Platform for data collection, aggregation, and analysis of disaster predictions and network environment
  4. An intranet website the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can use for disaster information
  5. An environment for storing and analyzing Twitter data

6. Implementation Overview

Evaluating the effectiveness of reporting on river water levels and rainfall amounts using a participatory disaster prevention system

  1. Measurements by residents of river water levels and rainfall amounts

    Six disaster prevention officials, selected by the residents of Thừa Thiên Huế Province, visually confirm measurements, in each district, at the river water measuring points twice a day and at the rainfall measuring points four times a day, and, using a smartphone equipped with a two-way communications application, use the smartphone's reporting screen to report measurements and send photographs taken with the smartphone. Each time there is a report, the location of the smartphone and time are automatically recorded by the application. The river and rainfall measuring points are equipped with a measuring device which enables easy visual measurements. In addition, at times of heavy rainfall, measurements are collected every hour.

    (Left) Screen for status of surrounding areas / (Right) Reporting screen
    Larger View (69 KB)

  2. Collecting, aggregating, and editing measurement data at the datacenter

    The information reported by the disaster prevention officials is collected at Fujitsu's datacenter to be mapped onto maps of Thừa Thiên Huế Province in real time and to generate graphs showing the speed of water level changes. These data are then provided to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    Managers responsible for disaster prevention at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can monitor this information using a web browser. By understanding changes in river water levels and rainfall amounts, they can issue evacuation instructions. In addition, in the future, as measurements on river water levels and rainfall amounts accumulate, analyses of past data can be used to bring visibility to the relationship between rainfall and river water levels, and it is expected that this can be used for predictive analyses of floods and for more effective evacuation guidance.

    Monitoring screen
    Larger View (83 KB)

  3. Communication between residents and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

    Thừa Thiên Huế Province disaster prevention officials and managers at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can communicate using the smartphone's two-way communications application. In particular, to enable effective communication during times of disasters, the two-way communications application is equipped with features for disaster prevention officials to confirm their status and features to enable the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to issue notifications.

    By using the reporting screen of the application to input river water levels and rainfall amounts, the disaster prevention officials can easily report these measurements to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. They can also use that screen to send comments or images of disaster conditions during emergencies, such as floods or landslides, and they can also directly call Department of Agriculture and Rural Development managers on the phone.

    The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development can use the notification screen on the application to input comments directly to recipient disaster prevention officials, making it easy to issue evacuation instructions. Likewise, disaster prevention officials can use the notification screen to confirm evacuation instructions from the Department, enabling them to give accurate guidance to local residents.

  4. Evaluation

    Jointly with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Fujitsu and Fujitsu Vietnam will prepare a report on the effectiveness of the visual measurements from the disaster prevention officials in this study, the accuracy of their information, and whether it is as effective as the information collected from existing sensors and outdoor cameras in the same area.

Collection and analysis of Twitter data

Using Fujitsu's data mining technology, Fujitsu and Fujitsu Vietnam will, based on a study of disasters of differing scales that have occurred in Vietnam during the past two years, efficiently collect Twitter messages relating to a disaster, analyze sudden increases in the volume of messaging when the disaster occurs, extract valuable information from the messages collected, and categorize them. Based on the results of this analysis, the effectiveness of using Twitter in Vietnam's disaster prevention and mitigation activities will be evaluated.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 162,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.8 trillion yen (US$46 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

Press Contacts

Public and Investor Relations Division
Inquiries

Company:Fujitsu Limited


All company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.

Date: 10 March, 2015
City: Tokyo and Hanoi
Company: Fujitsu Limited / Fujitsu Vietnam Limited