"Mobile Assistant" - help is near
Rescuers studied the market of mobile applications available in the country and found that there are no applications that would allow users to quickly navigate in non-standard situations. For example, a broken thermometer, a traffic accident, a forest fire, a thunderstorm outside, etc. This led to the creation of the application for Belarusian users "Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus: Help is Nearby".
"Five Steps to Rescue" is the principle according to which the application operates.
The "What to Do?" section contains more than 50 possible dangerous situations (downpour, thunderstorm, flood, snowfall, fire, etc.) and provides recommendations from the Ministry of Emergency Situations on how to behave and act.
The application includes an interactive map where users can track weather changes, as well as a notification system for adverse and dangerous phenomena from the Republican Center for Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Contamination Control and Environmental Monitoring.
Another important feature is the "112" button to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations. People in critical situations often forget emergency service numbers. Calls can be made from various pages of the application or directly from the "What to Do?" section. Rescuers have implemented call variations – adding the ability not only to connect with the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but also to send SMS or make calls to a specified number – for example, to a doctor or relatives. This will allow people to contact the right person in emergencies, which is especially important for people with various diseases. Setting numbers, as well as the ability to change the message text, are implemented in the user settings.
The "Test Yourself" section allows users to check their own knowledge using the provided tests and compare their answers with the results of other users. Knowledge gaps can be filled in the "Encyclopedia" section, which contains many necessary and useful articles.
The "First Aid" section has also been added to the application, equipped with audio prompts for first aid actions. The section was created with the support of the Belarusian Red Cross Society. The first aid skills training program, which forms the basis of the section, is accredited by the European First Aid Training Reference Centre of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) (IFRC Global First Aid Training Centre).
The "Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus. Help is Nearby" application allows every smartphone or tablet owner to stay informed about adverse weather forecasts and have at hand information on how to act in any emergency situation. To download the application, simply enter "Ministry of Emergency Situations" in the Google Play Market search, and our application will be the first in the list.
Inspector of the Department for Supervision of Fire and Emergency Prevention of the Miory District Department for Emergency Situations O.M. Girzha