What do fifteen-year-olds do in their spare time? Play video games and surf the net? Pratik Mohapatra is slightly different. This Class X Odisha boyBangalore has developed an app that people can use to send distress calls in an emergency.
The app, 'Emergency Hub', is available on Windows and Android phones and has been widely accepted by users.
Emergency Hub has the telephone numbers of various emergency services and can connect you to them at a touch whenever you're in distress.
So what made Pratik think of developing such an app?
"After the Delhi gang rape case created an uproar across the country, I thought to myself that if the girl had such an app on her phone, perhaps she could have sent a distress call swiftly and someone might have helped her," Pratik told TOI over the phoneBangalore.
After developing Emergency Hub, Pratik posted it on the Windows Phone Developer Centre and Android Developer Console. They approved it and now, the app has been used by nearly 500 users in the past two months.
"The app has five emergency numbers - police SOS, child abuse helpline, women's helpline, fire services and ambulance. You don't have to remember or search for these emergency numbers when in need. Using my app, you can call any of them at a touch because during an emergency, every minute is crucial," Pratik said.
The application also has a feature that will update your status onnetworking sites you are logged into at one attempt. "The message is predefined so there is no time wasted in typing the message, 'Please help me, I am in an emergency!'" he added.
Another feature for users of Windows Phone is that if they have downloaded the app, their phones will show them the exact location they are in without using the Internet. So, if in an emergency situation you don't knowyou are, simply click on Emergency Hub.
Pratik, who is a self-taught programmer, became interested in programming software when he was in Class VIII.
"Whenever I come across a problem while programming, I troubleshoot it using the internet," said Pratik (15), who studies in National Public School, Bangalore.
"With crime rates increasing across the country, this application will be of great help for people in distress and can save many lives," he said.
Pratik has also developed another app for smart phones called 'Calculator Hub' through which you can use five different types of calculators. Son of S P Mohapatra, who works for Toyota, Pratik wants to be a software engineer in future.
Pratik and his family moved to Bangalore 10 years agoBhubaneswar. His grandfather Guru Prasad Mohapatra stays in Saheed Nagar of Bhubaneswar.
