INTERVIEW: Website plays matchmaker for disaster aid

NEW DELHI (REUTERS) - In India, the challenge of getting aid to disaster survivors often boils down to supply and demand.

Relief workers identify specific needs - tents, say, or generators. They then have to scrabble around for suppliers, negotiate prices and figure out how to get the goods where they're needed in time to make a difference.

Until recently, the process has often been ad hoc and slow. But now an online matchmaking service promises to link aid groups with local firms best placed to deliver the goods quickly and cheaply.

"It's about providing the right aid to the right people in the right time," Kuldip Nar, managing director of the Corporate Disaster Network (CDRN) initiative, told AlertNet.

"This will mean relief will reach affected populations quicker as time will be saved by aid agencies that have to look for such items locally or overseas and these items will be made available at discounted prices."

India is considered one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, vulnerable to all kinds of natural hazards including droughts, floods, earthquakes and cyclones.

The scale and intensity of such disasters often take a heavy toll on communities, leaving them dependent on the government and humanitarian agencies for their most basic needs.

CDRN allows government officials and aid workers to feed in real-time information on the most pressing requirements. Then companies working in fields ranging from telecommunications and transport to healthcare and food can tap into the system and respond.

The network, which is supported by India's National Disaster Management Authority and a civil society group called CSO Partners, also lets firms make cash donations and supply skilled volunteers during emergencies.