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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Hackathon seeks high-tech fixes to Haj calamities

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JEDDAH: Fuelled by caffeine, pizza and adrenaline, sleep-deprived programmers in a marathon Saudi contest explored high-tech solutions to prevent a repeat of past calamities in the annual Haj pilgrimage. In a hall in Jeddah, thousands of software professionals and students competed in the kingdom’s first-ever hackathon, ahead of the world’s largest pilgrimage later this month. The Haj, expected to draw more than two million pilgrims to Mecca this year, represents a key rite of passage for the faithful and a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities.


Launching headlong into 36 hours of software development, the participants from across the globe battled sleep deprivation to crowd source answers to a key question that has long vexed Haj organisers — how to avert future deadly disasters. A group of Saudi, Yemeni and Eritrean women, all in their 20s, hunched over their laptops to design an app for paramedics to reach people in need of medical attention using geo-tracking technology. — AFP


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