Ukrainian military tech companies develop chatbot to assist rescuers in evacuation amid Kakhovka dam destruction

The Ukrainian teams TEMB Military and Griselda have developed a chatbot called "Evacuation from Water," which helps to save people from waterlogging after Russian troops blew up the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine's southern Kherson region.

The TEMB Military and Griselda teams announced this, Rubryka reports.

What is the problem?

As Rubryka reported, on the night of June 6, Russian invaders blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), located a few kilometers from the temporarily occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region.

The dam destruction caused an ecological disaster. The area of the flooded territories was 139 square kilometers. Hundreds of houses were underwater. High water cuts off people's ability to evacuate on their own.

As of June 11, 35 people are considered missing due to the Russian invaders blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant; among them are children. Evacuation from the flooded Kherson region continues at this time.

What is the solution?

The Evacuation from Water chatbot allows you to coordinate the work of rescuers evacuating people from flooded areas of the Kherson region.

This is a bot for those who need to evacuate or whose relatives need to evacuate, especially if unreachable. The developers say it is also worth reporting if you or your relatives have already been evacuated.

How does it work?

"The system allows not missing requests from the victims and also provides an understanding of who undertook a specific request and whether they fulfilled it," the developers note. "Moreover, this is a safe way to transmit your coordinates as opposed to publishing them on the Telegram chats, where collaborators and the Russian military can browse." 

To get help, you must go to the Telegram chatbot and request assistance. The image below shows the short instruction on how to do it: go to @evac_z_vody_bot, click "Start," Click "I need evacuation," follow the instruction to send the correct application, and send the request and wait for rescuers to contact you.

The bot sorts the requests using neural networks and forwards them to the relevant units of Ukraine's State Emergency Service, Kherson Regional Military Administration, and volunteers. Developers say it processes reports of distressed people and animals in "seconds," so rescuers can immediately go to the rescue.

As noted, the information is not posted on open resources, such as Google Maps, so that people do not become targets for Russian shelling.

Anyone can use the bot by following the link. The developers promise to provide feedback as soon as possible.

During the first day of operation of the chatbot, 500 requests have already been received, most of them having several people and animals per request.

Also, the developers have created a separate chat called Signal for the volunteers. They can choose the region where they provide assistance and communicate with other rescuers there.

"When volunteers undertake a request, they use emojis corresponding to different statuses: 'Working,' 'Successfully executed,' and 'Unsuccessfully executed.' This information is automatically synchronized with the overall system to avoid duplication of work," the organizers explain.

The project organizers advise volunteers to contact them directly for additional information and coordination of further actions through the @temb_support Telegram account.

As Rubryka reported, animal rights activists in Germany held a protest against Russia's ecocide in Ukraine under the name "Russia drowned us."