HAJJ CALAMITIES HIGH-TECH HONORS

SAUDI HACKATHON seeks high-tech fixes to Hajj calamities : So, fuelled by caffeine, pizza and adrenaline, sleep deprived programmers in a marathon Saudi contest this week-

Explored high-tech solutions to prevent a  repeat of post calamities in annual Hajj pilgrimage.

In a convention hall in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, thousands of software engineering professionals  and students competed in the Kingdom's first-ever hackathon, a coding festival ahead of the  world's  largest pilgrimage later this month.

The Hajj, expected to draw more than two million pilgrims to Mecca this year, represents a key rite of passage for Muslims and a massive logistical challenge for Saudi authorities, with colossal crowds cramming into relatively small holy sites.

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  Hajj organisers - how to avert future deadly disasters.

A group of five : Saudi, Yemen and Eritrean women, all in their 20s and covered  head-to-toe in the Islamic niqab, hunched over their laptops to design an app for para-medics to speedily reach people in need of medical attention using  geo-tracking  technology.

If multiple emergencies arise at once, the women hoped to their app would help provide the most pressing cases.

Two Pakistani professionals paired up with two  East Asian students  to develop a ''virtual leash''   application to locate relatives lost in the sea of humanity by using bluetooth wristbands.

Four Saudi men sought to design sensors for garbage bins that would alert cleaners when they are full to avoid any hygiene scare.[Agencies]

The Honor and Serving of this latest  research publication continues.