The project | INCARE EN

October 29, 2024

The Great Flood of Valencia

More than 500,000 citizens affected, 70,000 properties, 130,000 vehicles and 10,000 businesses, with damages valued at more than 25,000M€.

The Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) indicated that a total of 225,332 requests for compensation had been made by the beginning of 2025, with more than 500,000 citizens affected, with damages valued at 25,000M€. The most affected sectors include homes and homeowners' associations (72,813 claims), motor vehicles (133,618), stores and warehouses (13,633), offices (1,054), industrial risks (4,146) and civil works (68). For full details and access to the complete report, please consult the following LINK

INCARE project - DANA Valencia

Through a collaboration agreement, the Paiporta City Council, the Chair of Conversational Business of the University of Valencia, the Valencian company Ciudadano Conversational and AVALNET, Association of Digital Companies and Professionals of the Valencian Community, make available to all public and private organizations that will work in the following years on the reconstruction of the 78 populations affected by the DANA of 2024, under a pro-bono approach, the INCARE - DANA Valencia project.

Through a tool available to everyone such as WhatsApp, both citizens and public and private organizations can offer donations, which through the use of artificial intelligence , are offered to rebuilding organizations that can use them efficiently.
INCARE ensures transparency with the final destination of donations, by allowing traceability between donors and rebuilders, and within compliance with the security and compliance standards of the GDPR in terms of transfer and data processing.

Collaboration agreement

On January 20, 2025, the signing of the collaboration agreement between the 4 driving organizations of the INCARE - DANA2024 project was held, which can be read in its entirety on the public platform Here.

The agreement lays the foundations for the spirit of the project, which aims to make donations of goods, equipment and services from anywhere in the world available to all public and private organizations working in the reconstruction of the 78 populations affected by the natural disaster of October 2024 in the province of Valencia (Spain), so that they can be useful for the recovery of normality in the shortest possible time.

Local associations, neighborhood, cultural, sports, religious, etc., as well as NGOs in the field, and public agencies of all kinds, can access a database of potential donations, interpreted through artificial intelligence, and through third-generation WhatsApp technology, under strict compliance with data protection regulations (GDPR).

The problem to solve

Despite all the initiatives launched by public administrations, due to the dimensions of the natural disaster, reconstruction organizations lack of all resources “where, when and how they need them”, and there is a social pressure, which spontaneously and chaotically offers ten times the amount of necessary resources and demands their immediate acceptance. On the other hand, direct aid between donors and disaster victims may present situations of potential risk.

The objectives

Access to available resources in a structured and low-effort way by the reconstruction organizations.
Facilitating rebuilding organizations on the ground to lead the narrative about what is needed, where and at what time
Channeling the will of citizens to express their solidarity and to be part of the recovery
Meet the demands for a simple solution to a complex problem by using technologies that apply their previously acquired digital skills
Enable local administrations to focus their energy on listening, recording and prioritising needs
Execution of a project with a medium and long term vocation

The reality

There is no repository of volunteering skills, goods or services that can be donated at a general level.
The story of the assistance required has as many versions as there are operators or individuals operating in an area.
There are a multitude of initiatives with complex UX/UI, limitations in terms of language, geography, updating and persistence of data or regulatory compliance.
The impact of the solidarity wave will fade with each passing week and a focus on medium and long-term initiatives for the coming years is needed.
Local administrations make an effort in terms of resource acquisition, identification of needs, action and communication with the population, in addition to the day-to-day management of their work.
Citizens channel their frustration through networks and tend to take individual initiatives which, if they do not act in a coordinated manner, can lead to the dispersion of efforts and discouragement of volunteers, thus delaying the recovery process in the affected areas.

How INCARE works

Example of General Use

Reconstruction organisations (4) (local administrations, NGOs, associations, etc.) may have several coordinators (6) who are in constant communication with the groups of victims (7) to identify and understand their needs in real time. Once these needs have been identified, a search manager (5) is responsible for locating the appropriate donations to meet them.

The donations received are managed through the INCARE assistant (2) (+34 961 15 17 64). All the information collected is stored in a web application (3) that functions as a centralised database. Search managers (5) access this database (3), already informed about the specific needs of the affected people (7), to coordinate and ensure that donations effectively reach those who need them.

In addition, INCARE provides technical support service to donors and reconstructors (8). This process guarantees an efficient and organised response, ensuring that the aid provided is directly aligned with the real needs of the affected communities.

Example of a Musical Association

In a town affected by the DANA, the headquarters of its two music associations (7) have been washed away and they are looking for help to rebuild and return to normality as soon as possible. Both have united in a common goal and wish to access the donations (1) that are being registered daily on the WhatsApp number (2) of the INCARE assistant (+34961151764), and for this purpose they have appointed a person in each association to coordinate the efforts (6). Both coordinators are the people responsible for collecting the specific needs at each moment within their association and communicating them to what they have called ‘the searcher’ (5), who in their case is a university student whose responsibility is to periodically access the INCARE APP (3) to search for available donations that may fit them.

When this student finds a donation of interest, he or she cannot yet access the donor's details and, to do so, must mark it within the APP as reserved; it is then that the donor receives a message requesting permission to be contacted. Only if the donor agrees to be contacted will the person responsible for seeking donations from these associations be able to see their telephone number.

After accessing the contact number, it is the task of the search engine and the coordinators of each association to contact the donor, verify the validity of the donation and agree on all the necessary details to receive the good, equipment or service, since the objective of INCARE's patrons in promoting this initiative is to facilitate contact between donors and musical associations (in this case), and that they are the ones who decide whether to close the agreement for the donation or not, as the case may be.

Once the donation agreement has been concluded between the donor and the association, both will be able to mark the donation as completed and it will disappear from the available list.

Example of a Football Team

In a town affected by the DANA, all the sports fields have been destroyed and the children of the sports schools have no place to play. Their two local football teams (7) have joined forces to rebuild their work space, taking advantage of public initiatives and supplementing them with their own search for resources.

Their objective using the INCARE APP is to access the donations (1) that are being registered daily on the WhatsApp number (2) of the INCARE assistant (+34961151764), and for this, they have appointed a person from each team to coordinate the efforts (6). Both coordinators are responsible for collecting the specific needs at any given moment within the club and communicating them to what they have called ‘the searcher’ (5), who in their case is a technician from one of the teams with computer skills. This person is responsible for periodically accessing the INCARE APP (3) to search for available donations that may fit them.

When this donation finder finds an interesting donation, it cannot yet access the donor's details, as it has to mark it as reserved in the APP and the donor then receives a message requesting permission to be contacted. Only if the donor agrees to be contacted, the person in charge of searching for donations from these clubs will be able to see their telephone number.

After accessing their contact number, it is the task of the coach and coordinators of each team to contact the donor, verify the validity of their donation and agree on all the necessary details to receive the good, equipment or service, since the objective of INCARE's patrons promoting this initiative is to facilitate contact between donors and football teams (in this case), and that they are the ones who decide whether to close the agreement for the donation or not, as the case may be.

Once the donation agreement has been concluded between the donor and the association, both will be able to mark the donation as completed and it will disappear from the available list.

Example of Town Hall I

In a town affected by the DANA, citizens go to the town hall to ask for help. The search for goods, equipment or services is being carried out by the town council's own technicians from the different departments, as well as by councillors and other public officials.

Their objective using the INCARE APP is to access the donations (1) that are being registered daily on the WhatsApp number of the INCARE assistant (+34961151764) (2), and for this, they have appointed people from various areas of the City Council (6) to coordinate the efforts. Both people are responsible for collecting the specific needs at all times within the municipality and periodically accessing the INCARE APP (3) to search for available donations that may fit them.

When both donation search engines find a donation of interest, it cannot yet access the donor's details, as it must be marked within the APP as reserved, and it is then that the donor receives a message requesting permission to be contacted. Only if the donor agrees to be contacted will the APP allow the donor's phone number to be seen.

After accessing their contact number, it is the task of the technician and the coordinators of the city council to contact the donor, verify the validity of the donation and agree on all the necessary details to receive the good, equipment or service, since the objective of INCARE's patrons in promoting this initiative is to facilitate the contact between donors and football teams (in this case), and that they are the ones who decide whether to close the agreement for the donation or not, as the case may be.

Once the donation agreement has been concluded between the donor and the seeker on the City Council's side, both will be able to mark the donation as completed and it will disappear from the available list.

Example of Town Hall II

Citizens (7) contact their local council (5) through different people and channels, in search of specific aid, which in some cases can be covered in the form of donations, received through the INCARE APP (3). Local councils may have difficulties in collecting and managing these needs and then finding what is requested, although local associations are an ideal channel due to their proximity and specialisation.

In these cases, people in a municipality can redirect citizens to the contact persons of these associations (4), shown in a list on the INCARE website, where once their need is understood and collected, a person from the association can look for donors (1) to cover it.

The task of finding within the database generated by the donations offered, or registering the demand to receive alerts when a donation is available, is always the unique and non-transferable responsibility of the association working in post-disaster reconstruction of the DANA disaster that has registered with INCARE as a reconstruction organisation (4).

Once the donation has been negotiated between the donor and the reconstruction association, it will be recorded by both parties that the donation has been made and the good, equipment or service will no longer be available for future searches.

Appreciations

"From the moment I conceived the idea to the public launch, there has been a group of people without whose help it wouldn't have been possible. Each one listened patiently to me, contributed with their knowledge and vision, and gave their time altruistically. I would like to thank Dr. Marimón, Dr. Marti and Dr. Marzal for their legal support, Dr. Soria and Dr. Vila for their support in the application of AI to INCARE, the engineers Jorge Verchili, Rafael Tormo and Antoni Espinosa for their support in the solution, Antonio Bordonado, Ruben Coll, Elena Bellido and Rut Velasquez for their unconditional encouragement, my second family Pau Velaz, Pedro Mary M. Quintana, Enrique Barcos, Burton Chau and Roy Hui for trusting in my vision and to my first family, Dariya and Alma Kanseitova, my mother and brother, for always taking care of me".

José Pérez

Founder Conversational Citizen