PHNOM PENH: The Mekong River Commission (MRC) is set to launch a mobile application called ‘One Mekong App’ between July and August this year, to provide communities along the river with push alerts and notifications about weather conditions, disasters, floods and droughts.
The app was developed to support the information sharing of MRC core river monitoring network functions and covers a broad range of areas including water quality, hydrology, sediment, environmental health, fisheries, climate, hydropower operations and flood and drought monitoring and forecasting.
"The mobile app development has reached a major milestone, with a preview version now available. A full release is aimed for July-August 2024 after incorporating the latest updates.
“Users will be able to find it on both Android and iOS platforms, available for download from the Google Play Store and the App Store. To achieve this, we ensure that the MRC mobile app meets the needs of users from various locations and language backgrounds," stated a post on the MRC website.
According to the post, the app allows users to receive alerts for high or low water levels, floods, droughts, storms, air quality, rainfall, landslides and other disasters, as well as listen to voice broadcasts and view water level and rainfall forecasts.
With a user-friendly interface and an interactive map featuring customisable layers, the app aims to enhance the reporting and sharing of the commission's river monitoring functions and efficiently correlate remote sensing and ground data.
Viewers can post photographs, locations and comments about floods, droughts and livelihood-affecting incidents. An AI chatbot is used to respond to user queries with real-time data.
“We are not just putting data on the website; we truly want to bring data to engage with communities, especially the affected communities,” said MRC Secretariat CEO Anoulak Kittikhoun during the June 12 Regional Stakeholder Forum in Vientiane, Laos, where the app was introduced to participants.
The post noted that it allows users to watch live Chinese CCTV from numerous monitoring stations, incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for automatically generated weather reports and impact simulations and introduces iReport features for a community-based early warning system. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
