The unification is a joint attempt by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), Ministry of National Defense (MND), and Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA) to mark the 70th War Invalids’ and Martyrs’ Day (July 27).
A ceremony held to commemorate Vietnamese experts and voluntary soldiers dying while doing international services in Laos
The Policy Department under the MND currently manages three databases, two on pre-2015 and post-2015 war invalids and martyrs, and one decryption database.
Meanwhile, the National Devotees Bureau under the MoLISA, which manages data on citizens who’ve contributed to the revolutionary cause, has two databases, on pre-2015 war invalids and martyrs, and another on war martyrs, their relatives and war martyrs’ cemeteries (pre-2015).
However, each of these databases has been independently established with its own security measures, and the resultant overlap makes it difficult to cross-check and update information.
The National Institute of Software and Digital Content Industry (NISCI) under MIC has now been tasked with using supercomputers to standardize and consolidate the existing databases on war invalids and martyrs.
The institute said the trillion calculations and intensive collation involved form an enormous workload that only supercomputers and machine learning technology can tackle.
The information will also be uploaded onto a website that the public can access. The website will not only serve as a unified portal to search for information on war invalids and martyrs but also as a place where people can post information on what they know about war heroes who remain unaccounted for.
Popular social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo (Vietnam-created chat app plus over-the-top content provider) and others will also be used to promote the website, attracting useful contributions from the public to expand the database.
A test version of the software was executed successfully last month with sample data sourced from the MND and MoLISA.
Concerned agencies have rated the software’s functions as appropriate for tasks related to finding and collecting war martyrs’ remains.
For the website to be made available for public use, full data from the two ministries must be provided, which could only start in the week from July 10-15.
According to MoLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung, about 200,000 sets of remains lying scattered across southern provinces, Laos and Cambodia haven’t been collected, while another 300,000 sets of remains that have been reburied in martyrs’ cemeteries lack information to make an accurate identification.
Dung was hopeful that the new system will prove successful: “If we continue with the traditional way, going to war martyr cemeteries and check one by one, it will take a really long time. I hope this will no longer be the case with the new system.”
Source: VNA