Sahana Software Foundation
 The Sahana Software Foundation Logo |
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| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Paul Currion Chamindra de Silva |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Focus | Disaster and emergency management |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Method | Free and open-source software |
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Key people
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Michael Howden, CEO |
| Website | SahanaFoundation.org |
Sahana Software Foundation is a Los Angeles, CA-based non-profit organization founded to promote the use of Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) for disaster and emergency management. The foundation's mission statement is to "save lives by providing information management solutions that enable organizations and communities to better prepare for and respond to disasters." The foundation's Sahana family of software products include Eden, designed for humanitarian needs management, Vesuvius, focused on the disaster preparedness needs of the medical community, and legacy earlier versions of Sahana software including Krakatoa, descended from the original Sahana code base developed following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The word “Sahana” means “relief” in Sinhalese, the national language of Sri Lanka.
The Sahana Software Foundation's roots began after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26th of that year, when a team of Sri Lankan technology workers associated with the Lanka Software Foundation, developed software that could be used by the government to coordinate assistance for those impacted by the tsunami. The Sahana was created for information management and collaboration in the aftermath. The software was designed to resolve common coordination problems that arise during a disaster, including facilitating the search for missing people, aid and volunteer management, and victim tracking across refugee camps.
LSF, as the first owner of the intellectual property making up Sahana software, coordinated ongoing volunteer efforts to maintain the software, and managed associated donated funds. Sahana software grew into a global free and open source software project supported by hundreds of volunteer contributors from dozens of countries.. It supported national and local authorities and relief agencies in their response to numerous large-scale, sudden-onset disasters.
The software was originally deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO), which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). Additional funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), IBM and the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
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