A 17-year-old student from Chachoengsao province has developed a website to help coordinate flood relief efforts after volunteering in the flood response and seeing cases of assistance being duplicated.
Nontapas Chitrangsan, a Grade 12 student at Sujipuli School in Chachoengsao, spent about four hours developing the first version of the Chachoengsao Flood Vercel App, a platform designed to centralise flood situation reports and coordinate assistance to people affected by flooding.
He said the idea came during flooding in Chachoengsao in late September, when he volunteered to help pack relief supplies.
While working there, he met Natarit Noonpradet, one of the main rescue team members in the area.
Their conversation highlighted a major problem facing rescue coordinators: many requests for help were coming in, making it difficult to assess their accuracy and urgency and resulting in some cases receiving duplicate assistance, he told Thai PBS Sci & Tech.
Nontapas therefore volunteered to build a dashboard for the rescue team.
“I didn't think the platform would go viral. I just thought that if I could make it work, a lot of people would benefit from it. If people came and used it, I would feel that it was worthwhile,” he said.
During its first week, the platform handled a huge volume of traffic, with backend statistics showing about 32 million website requests in seven days, he said.
Each request is assigned a case number, while rescue teams reaching the location must update the case status and upload photographs as evidence that assistance has been provided.
This allows the command centre to see immediately whether a case has already been handled.
The initial version took him only about four hours to code and focused on essential functions, including water-level monitoring, water-level maps and situation reports.
He subsequently added features such as CCTV cameras and alerts for overflowing rivers, while expanding the platform from covering only Chachoengsao to the whole country in response to user feedback.
“My family has supported me from the first day, whether with the domain or other things. My parents have always told me that whatever I do, I should do it wholeheartedly and not expect anything in return. Having the intention to start doing something for others is enough,” he said.
The project also involved a team of young volunteers from Sujipuli School, known as the SLT Core Team, who work as backend administrators, helping screen cases, assess risks and coordinate with rescue teams.
He said his approach to social projects was inspired by the philosophy of “Don't give a man a fish, but give him a fishing rod”, which he learned from the teachings of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
“I believe in the idea. Donating things is good, but they are used only once. If we teach people a skill, they can support themselves. I want to be someone who can create fishing rods for as many people as possible,” he said.
Main photo: Sujipuli School's Facebook
