Devpost submission: https://devpost.com/software/send-help
Given the numerous natural disasters constantly occurring in the world, we decided to create a website where people can easily donate to charities in order to support those who need it the most, based on the recency and magnitude of the disaster, using their own currency. This is where TransferWise plays a part, as they allow easy transfer of different currencies without much loss in exchange.
The website shows a map of the world with marks on countries that have recently been hit by a natural disaster in red, and countries still affected by past disastrous events in orange, for donators to be aware of the countries that are in most need of support. When the pointer hovers over the marks, a summary of the natural disaster shows up, and by clicking on the button a fast donation can be made by filling in a form. With the use of TransferWise we made the transfers to charities in more straightforward way, with the least loss in money.
On reliefweb.int, we identified areas recently struck by disasters, and using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, developed a website indicating these places on a world map.
"API what?" "Why are the buttons everywhere?" "WHO TOUCHED THIS?!" - most frequently said phrases throughout the project.
Some of the team members were not familiar with web development, and these members initially found it difficult to program the website. Furthermore, API was completely new and it took a long time for us to grasp its concept. However, we were very thankful to receive lots of help from the dedicated TransferWise mentors. Through their help, we were able to overcome most of the difficulties and challenges faced.
Our website is a masterpiece, despite the fact that Celina and Muyao were new to HTML and CSS before, and the backend surprisingly also working despite Tia not knowing what a JSON was 24 hours ago.
"Patience is virtue."
We have learned a lot, both in web development and in the usage of API, which we previously found foreign. We also learned the importance of dividing a project so as to be more efficient when working together.
The next step for ‘Send Help!’ is to use Machine Learning to identify recent natural disasters in the world from online news websites and add them to the map.