Innovation Amidst Devastation: Tech Solutions for Libya

You’ve likely heard about the floods in Libya. A dam burst and water engulfed an entire city. It was devastating. Between 35 and 40% of the city is gone. There have been 5000 confirmed deaths, but that doesn’t count the more than 10,000 people who are missing. And with no data to corroborate, we have no idea how many people we should even be looking for.

We’ve lost seven family members. There was a story I heard about one man losing his entire family. Three generations gone in one disaster.

Working in tech, you automatically think about how you could design solutions for these types of atrocities. Tech might not be able to help us avoid them entirely, but they could help mitigate the damage.

Recently in Canada, there was a hurricane approaching the nation’s east coast. Meteorologists were able to track the storm and were prepared to warn the public if the hurricane looked like it could do real damage. In Libya, there’s virtually no critical infrastructure. No street names, no addresses, and no disaster warning systems. Reports about the local dam potentially bursting were in the news, but with different outlets reporting different levels of severity, no one had any way of knowing just how bad this flood could impact them if there even was a flood at all. It did burst though, and when it did, there was no warning given to residents of the area.

People around the world aren’t aware of how lacking the infrastructure in Libya is. Right now, we’re getting a lot of band aid solutions — first aid resources mostly. We’re grateful for the help, but what we need to make a real difference is the tools and technology that could help us prevent, or lessen the damage of future disasters.

The international community will come to Libya and leave shortly thereafter. It’s too hard to make a real profit or grow roots in the nation with so much political upheaval. Even if these international entities do install devices or leave behind technology for Libyans, maintenance of them is next to impossible when they leave.

It’s a vicious cycle. International industry will come, find staying too difficult and leave Libya without any tools or technology — Libya will then face disaster, the global community will return but only with first aid, nothing to prevent the cycle from continuing.

We can’t rely on the international community forever. Developing tools from within the country seems to be the best alternative. But that’s not without its own set of problems. Working within a broken system is frustrating and the best and brightest Libyans will often leave the country for better opportunities elsewhere.

If we’re going to develop real and lasting solutions, it has to come from people who really care, who really want to make a difference. Luckily, I’ve been able to find many of those people and bring them on at my own company.

Currently, my team and I are working on developing an alarm system that could potentially notify people when natural disasters are about to strike. It won’t stop them from happening, but it could at least bring awareness. We’re also working on creating more preventative technologies, so that we can shine a light on the condition of the infrastructure that we do have. We need to have a more accurate means of assessing both the infrastructure and the damage.

The floods have reaffirmed my belief — to see real and lasting change, we need to innovate and that innovation needs to come from within the community. I hope to help usher in a brighter tomorrow.