Ncell, DHM intensify collaboration for flood early warning

Ncell Private Ltd on August 24 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) to further deepen collaboration between the two institutions for the implementation of early warning system (EWS) -- a lifesaver initiative that improves the disaster preparedness.

Vishal Upadhyay, Chief Information Officer of Ncell and Dr. Rishi Ram Sharma, Director General of the DHM signed the MoU on behalf of respective institutions amid a function on Friday.

The new MoU broadens the collaboration between Ncell and DHM, which began in 2016, to implement EWS for hydro-meteorology related disasters such as floods and landslides. Since the understanding, Ncell has been broadcasting early warning alerts through mass SMS to the people living in downstream river basin of major rivers causing floods and inflicting huge loss to life and property. The collaboration has been contributing to save life and minimize loss of property.

“In Ncell, we have disaster preparedness and response as one of the key pillars of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We are pleased to enter in a fresh collaboration with DHM with additional support, with an aim to safeguard life and property, benefitting millions of Nepalis. The collaboration is a testimony of Ncell’s commitment to serve the people of Nepal even during difficult time. The initiative also demonstrates how technology can be best utilized for disaster preparedness and response, and delivering wider social benefits in emergency situations,” said Vishal Upadhyaya, CIO of Ncell.

The MoU formalizes collaboration between Ncell and DHM which for next 5 years. Under this, Ncell upon DHM’s request will continue broadcast flood early warning alerts to the people living along downstream river basin of major rivers known for creating flood mayhem.

The company will also provide connectivity support to DHM, which will enable the department to efficiently transfer data between hydrological/meteorological stations installed across the country and central server. As a part of this commitment, Ncell will support DHM with 250 Ncell SIM cards with annual balance totaling to Rs 1.5 million in the first year of MoU.

As DHM install new telemetry devices and expand hydro-meteorological stations, Ncell will continue to provide similar connectivity support to those stations, so that more people could benefit from the EWS initiative.

“We are pleased to enter in an understanding with Ncell with additional support from the company for data transmission and broadcasting of early warning SMS for next 5 years.  The initiative over the past two years have proven instrumental to safe life and property, and served the people in emergency situations. We thank Ncell for the contribution it made to make the system work and save thousands of life. In order to deliver its benefits to more people, we will be installing more stations in coming years, and we thank Ncell for its generous commitment to provide connectivity support to transfer telemetry data from stations to our main server, strengthening the EWS,” said Dr Rishi Ram Sharma, director general of DHM.

In EWS, DHM keeps track of the hydro and metrology situations and triggers the messaging based on the level of water in rivers, following which Ncell immediately sends early warning SMS from short code number 1155 to the customers living in the disaster prone areas in real time.

Customers can also make free calls to DHM’s toll free number 1155 and get information about the floods.

Early warning alerts provide lead time to the people to move to government-designated safe locations with their belongings. When water level returns to normal, they also receive SMS alert that there is no looming risk and they can now return to their places.