PickMe’s SOS feature breaks new ground
View(s):Some start-up companies, while Colombo came under a flood of public empathy and relief measures from ordinary citizens, experimented with unique ways to support relief measures, with mobile app based taxi hailing service, PickMe being amongst them. PickMe initially teamed up with a television station to pick up dry rations from those who wanted to contribute. This was done through a special icon on their mobile app, which customers could click on, and the company would send a taxi for the pick-up. The collections were brought to a pick-up point and delivered to the TV station, to be distributed among the needy, the company said in a media statement. What was unique was PickMe’s SOS app, which the company came up with, to identify and rescue flood victims who were marooned.
All those who had the PickMe app on their phone could click on it and PickMe could identify the exact location of the stranded people, using GPS tracking. “We had a large number of people who responded and some of this information we passed onto to those doing rescue operations. Whilst we too operated some boats to rescue people,” said Zulfer Jiffry, CEO of PickMe. Whilst the PickMe app was useful in supporting surface rescue, their collaboration with the Defense Ministry to airlift marooned flood victims was even more crucial. PickMe had a specially appointed team to pass on distress signals no sooner they were received to the Defence Ministry helicopter rescue crew who acted on them deploying their craft to the locations provided by the company.
The helicopter crew didn’t delay in flying to the locations beeped in by PickMe and through their timely partnership, over 200 families including children, pregnant mothers and the elderly who were abandoned in unreachable areas were brought to safety. “Even though GPS tracking has been around for a long time, this is probably the first time it has been used as an interface between those who were in distress and teams involved in rescue missions. There is a lot that needs to be done in creating awareness and during these floods we have learnt what we can do over and beyond just being a taxi service,” Mr. Jiffry said.