sms alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural india
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

SMS alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural India

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice SMS alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural India

A tea estate worker receives an SMS alert on an estate
New Delhi - AFP

 Geetha Thomas owes her life to a text message. The 38-year-old tea plantation worker was able to scramble onto the roof of her home in southern India as a herd of elephants rampaged through her village thanks to an alert on her mobile phone.
The warning was part of an initiative by the environmental group Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) aimed at reducing the number of deaths caused by elephants in the area by alerting communities to the animals' presence.
Dozens of people have been killed by elephants in Valparai, a tea-growing area surrounded by forest in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where around 70,000 people live mostly as workers on tea estates.
The area is a key corridor for elephants migrating from one section of forest to another, and the local population has little choice but to coexist with the large animals.
NCF came up with the SMS scheme after research found that 36 of the 41 deaths from elephant attacks in Valparai since 1994 could have been prevented if the victim had received a warning.
The group set up a network of local people to observe the elephants and provides regular updates on their whereabouts, sending out SMS messages when they had pinpointed an elephant's location.
"In a split second, up to 1,500 people, mostly tea pickers, are informed in English and Tamil," said NCF researcher Ganesh Raghunathan.
The NCF also set up red beacon lights that are activated with a missed call from a mobile number and can be seen from far away, reaching people without mobiles or in areas where connectivity is poor.
NCF figures show that average annual deaths from elephants in Valparai have fallen from three to one since the scheme was launched in 2012.
Mani Megalai, a tea picker on an estate on the edge of the forest, says the warning have made her feel "much safer" than she did before.
"Everyone keeps a cell phone here for safety. Before we didn't know where the elephants were," she told AFP.
"Now that we do, thanks to the SMS, we feel much safer."

 

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sms alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural india sms alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural india

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sms alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural india sms alerts cut deaths caused by elephants in rural india

 



GMT 11:03 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

No end to eyesores at Taj Mahal

GMT 10:18 2018 Thursday ,30 August

Iran incapable of closing Hormuz, Bab Al Mandeb

GMT 10:31 2014 Tuesday ,23 December

Mirages of failure: Lebanon cannot wait

GMT 04:53 2016 Monday ,16 May

English Premier League results

GMT 05:06 2024 Tuesday ,06 February

New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way

GMT 06:15 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Volkswagen clinches record sales

GMT 13:13 2016 Wednesday ,14 December

Unarmed old man killed by police in California

GMT 15:00 2017 Wednesday ,08 March

1 killed, 2 missing due to Avalanche in French Alps

GMT 12:07 2017 Saturday ,25 February

Renault’s R.S.17 features Infiniti co-built ERS

GMT 12:52 2017 Saturday ,04 November

Belgium 'to study' Spain's EU warrant for Catalan leader

GMT 08:40 2017 Wednesday ,01 November

Miss Morocco launch her first charity program

GMT 16:26 2016 Friday ,04 November

All Black brothers in arms ready for rare double

GMT 08:21 2017 Saturday ,30 September

Al Sayed underlines economic improvement

GMT 10:27 2017 Wednesday ,13 December

Strikes kill 12 in rebel-run Yemen prison camp

GMT 10:52 2017 Saturday ,14 October

NGOs slam UN aviation agency plan
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice