Hurricane Helene - September 2024
Hurricane Milton - October 2024
Satellite imagery courtesy of NOAA/NESDIS
When Disasters Strike
Food charities become critical first responders during and after natural disasters and other emergencies, serving both their regular clients and newly affected populations. Yet coordinating resources across damaged infrastructure and disrupted communications remains a significant challenge.
AI-Response is building AI-powered Assessment and Response Tools for Food Security to transform emergency food distribution through intelligent systems that process real-time status reports, optimize resource allocation, and ensure aid reaches those most in need. Built from lessons learned during Hurricane Harvey and developed in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, our platform enables food charities to communicate needs instantly while emergency coordinators gain actionable intelligence for rapid response.
Project Objectives
Our objectives address immediate disaster response needs while building long-term resilience through three interconnected objectives.
Emergency Response System
Develop an AI-powered system that processes natural language status reports from food charities, converting unstructured communications into actionable data with real-time prioritization of urgent needs.
Resource Allocation System
Create an intelligent logistics platform that optimizes FEMA response through automated resource allocation, considering facility constraints like power status, storage capacity, and access limitations.
Training & Evaluation Programs
Implement Community Health Worker-led training for emergency response protocols, culturally appropriate crisis messaging, and comprehensive evaluation of food charity preparedness and infrastructure capabilities.
Partners and Collaborators
Our interdisciplinary team combines expertise from leading institutions to address the complex challenges of disaster response and food security.
This collaboration brings together the University of Houston's Computational Biomedicine Lab expertise in AI and disaster response, Tackle Hunger's nationwide network of over 25,000 food charities, and UNTHSC's Community Health Worker Training Center network.
Join AI-Response's Mission
Help us transform disaster response and ensure food security for affected communities. Your involvement can make a critical difference in developing and deploying life-saving emergency coordination systems.
AI-Response
AI-powered Disaster Assessment and Response Tools for Food Security
We're developing innovative solutions to transform emergency food distribution during disasters. Our systems enable real-time coordination between food charities and emergency responders, ensuring aid reaches those most in need.
Contact
Computational Biomedicine Lab
c/o Ioannis A. Kakadiaris
University of Houston
4349 MLK Blvd, Rm 322
Houston, TX 77204-6022
contact@proj002.cbl-uh.org
Support
AI-Response is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under Grant No. 14313513. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NIFA or the USDA.