American Red Cross responders in Saipan after Category 5 Typhoon Yutu swept through in October used ODK Collect to help record Distribution of Emergency Supplies (DES). The Red Cross was delivering tarps, dry food rations, water, clean-up kits, insect repellents, and many other relief goods to those affected by the storm. They needed to know how many of which items they had, how many they had given out, if they missed any families who happened to be absent when they visited, how many families they had served, etc.
The distribution and warehouse teams eagerly embraced ODK tools. They were impressed that it only took 3-5 minutes of demonstration for someone to pick up how to use ODK Collect to fill a form recording a distribution. By quickly collecting and aggregating the data they were able to better plan their response activities. For instance, It was helpful to be able to map the distribution points to better visualize the coverage area for planning distribution routes and the distribution tracking data allowed them to efficiently and correctly report on the progress.