Luxembourg develops life-saving website

A ground-breaking website which was developed in Luxembourg to better coordinate worldwide assistance in the event of a crisis, has gone live.

Emergency.lu was official launched in New York on Wednesday by Luxembourg's development cooperation minister Marie-Josée Jacobs in front of an official UN delegation.

The satellite-driven website is designed to coordinate rapid relief for humanitarian missions around the world, closing the communication gap which can sometimes delay life-saving aid.

Among the types of incidents it could have helped with in the past were the tragic earthquake in Haiti. Towards the end of the year, it is expected the site will be used to coordinate aid in countries such as Mogadishu and Somalia.

The scheme, which will be deployed globally in 2012, was borne out of an EU research programme, involving some 16 partners and led by the University of Luxembourg. It was deployed with the assistance of a number of partners, including Ducair, SES Astra, Hitec Luxembourg and Luxembourg Air Ambulance Ltd.