Coronavirus: IIT Bombay creates platform to connect those providing relief aid

There are a host of volunteers, too, who are helping with the relief work.The students at IIT Bombay have designed an online platform/ interface called ‘URHope’ that will bring these organisations and volunteers together.

A group of students of the Indian Institute of Technology , Bombay, with the help of alumni have created a platform to connect those providing relief aid during the Covid-19 outbreak to volunteers who have resources or manpower.

ANI

There are various organisations and support groups across the country lending a helping hand to those who are worst affected by the global pandemic and the subsequent nationwide lockdown. While many are providing food and shelter to migrant workers and daily wage labourers, others are providing essential commodities and medical supplies. There are a host of volunteers, too, who are helping with the relief work.The students at IIT Bombay have designed an online platform/ interface called ‘URHope’ that will bring these organisations and volunteers together. “So the idea is if any of us want to help by volunteering or providing resources, we can use this interface to find an organisation that may be in need of your help. It will act as a connecting bridge between those who can provide help to those who may need it,” said a student involved in the project.

The first step is to get registered on the interface through https://bit.ly/coronareliefindia. Here, one can register as an individual or organisation and provide details of the services one wishes to provide or is in need of. Once registered, you can find a match based on the database.

“Given the sheer enormity of information going around, it becomes difficult, at times, to navigate through it when one is actually in the need of some help. There are people amongst us who wish to volunteer in the relief process but don’t know where to go. So, to ease the process of accessing as well as providing relief, some of us (we have both students and working professionals) have come together with an online platform/interface called URHope where one can register: if one needs help (for food, medicine, accommodation etc.), if one is providing help or if one wishes to volunteer with someone who has already initiated a relief process,” said the student group IIT Bombay for Justice in a statement.