Kenya Red Cross Society and Safaricom Partner for an Early Warning Disaster System

The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) on Tuesday partnered with Safaricom to introduce an SMS based information tool to provide timely early warnings for disasters and lessen the adverse effects on communities.

The platform dubbed M-Salama will be available to all Safaricom subscribers and will offer information on impending or upcoming natural disasters such as floods, famine, and drought. This will enable users to tp make early decisions on how to stay out of harm’s way.

In the long term, the partnership aims to enhance disaster preparedness and strengthen community resilience.

According to Dr. Abbas Gullet, the KRCS Secretary General, M-Salama is a timely innovation that will save lives due to its speed in communicating with the target audiences.

“During the recent floods, we sent out more than ten million early warning messages, information that guided many families to move to higher ground. Today, telcos are well placed to offer colossal support in disaster reduction by using their resources to improve the timely flow of crucial information before, during and after the disaster,” he said.

M-Salama leverages both organizations’ core strengths; Safaricom’s capacity to communicate quickly to large numbers of the population through its SMS infrastructure and Kenya Red Cross’ knowledge and skills in disaster risk reduction and management.

The M-Salama emergency SMS information system strives to reduce the loss of lives and property, both of which have a severe impact on the survival, dignity, and livelihood of individuals and reversal of development gains.

M-Salama can be accessed by dialing the USSD *600#. Each SMS costs 1 shilling.