Hanoi (VNA) -Supercomputers will be deployed to unify databases of different agenciesmanaging information about war invalids and martyrs, significantly reducingtime taken to locate documents or determine the identity of remains.

The unification is a joint attempt by the Ministry of Informationand Communications (MoIC), Ministry of Defence (MoD), and Ministry of Labour,Invalids, and Social Affairs (MoLISA) to mark the 70th anniversaryof the National War Invalids and Martyrs Day (27/7/1947 – 27/7/2017).

The Policy Department under the MoD currently manages threedatabases, two on pre-2015 and post-2015 war invalids and martyrs, and onedecryption database.

Meanwhile, the National Devotees Bureau under the MoLISA, whichmanages data on citizens who’ve contributed to the revolutionary cause, has twodatabases, 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 independentlyestablished with its own security measures, and the resultant overlap makes itdifficult to cross-check and update information.

The National Institute of Software and Digital Content Industry(NISCI) under MoIC has now been tasked with using supercomputers to standardiseand consolidate the existing databases on war invalids and martyrs.

The institute said the trillion calculations and intensivecollation involved form an enormous workload that only supercomputers andmachine learning technology can tackle.

The information will also be uploaded onto a website that thepublic can access. The website will not only serve as a unified portal tosearch for information on war invalids and martyrs but also as a place wherepeople can post information on what they know about war heroes who remainunaccounted for.

Popular social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo (Vietnam-createdchat app plus over-the-top content provider) and others will also be used topromote the website, attracting useful contributions from the public to expandthe database.

[A veteran’s search for fallen comrades]

A test version of the software was executed successfully lastmonth with sample data sourced from the MoD and MoLISA.

Concerned agencies have rated the software’s functions asappropriate for tasks related to finding and collecting war martyrs’ remains.

For the website to be made available for public use, full datafrom the two ministries must be provided, which could only start in the weekfrom July 10-15.

According to MoLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung, about 200,000sets of remains lying scattered across southern provinces, Laos and Cambodiahaven’t been collected, while another 300,000 sets of remains that have beenreburied in martyrs’ cemeteries lack information to make an accurateidentification.

Dung was hopeful that the new system will prove successful: “If wecontinue with the traditional way, going to war martyr cemeteries and check oneby one, it will take a really long time. I hope this will no longer be the casewith the new system.”-VNA