HelpLink

MERN Stack Disaster Relief Application

About this project

Every year, during winter, floods and cyclones in Bangladesh, underprivileged people suffer. Many donors want to help but do not know who to help. This project is a MERN Stack web platform that connects donors, receivers, volunteers and admin to ensure timely relief distribution.

Next.jsTypeScriptTailwind CSSNode.jsExpress.jsMongoDB

Key Features

Receivers can post their issues and donors can easily view these requests and provide assistance through donations, ensuring a transparent and efficient support system.

The platform uses AI to analyze request titles and determine emergency levels automatically. Highly urgent requests can be instantly prioritized or auto-approved to accelerate relief distribution during critical situations.

ntegrated an AI-powered chatbot to provide instant support and guidance for users. The chatbot helps users navigate the platform, answer common questions, provide emergency assistance information, and improve overall user experience during disaster situations.

Implemented secure authentication with protected routes and role-based permissions to ensure platform security and data privacy.

Integrated REST APIs for authentication, donation management, request handling, and real-time data communication between frontend and backend systems.

Challenges & Solutions

Challenge

During critical disasters, manually screening hundreds of help requests created bottlenecks, significantly delaying immediate relief to high-risk victims.

Solution

Integrated an AI-powered text analysis model to evaluate request titles, extract severity indicators, and automatically calculate urgency scores for instant prioritization or auto-approval.

Challenge

Managing four distinct user roles (Receiver, Donor, Volunteer, Admin) created security risks regarding unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, and data mutation (e.g., users altering other users' requests).

Solution

Implemented JWT authentication with route guard middlewares, enforcing strict role-based authorization rules across both client-side routes and backend REST API endpoints.

Challenge

High user traffic during crisis situations led to repetitive inquiry support tickets and reduced platform usability for stressed users needing urgent help.

Solution

Built and embedded an AI-powered assistant to deliver real-time platform navigation, automated FAQs, and step-by-step guidance for emergency processes.

Challenge

Fetching and synchronizing dynamic updates across multiple unique dashboards created unnecessary payload overhead and slow response times under high-frequency updates.

Solution

Structured optimized RESTful API endpoints with pagination, precise payload scoping, and centralized state management to handle dynamic status changes smoothly.

Demo Credentials

Emaildemo@helplink.com

Passwordhelplink123

Technical Highlights

Designed type-safe UI components using Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS to ensure high performance and fully responsive layouts.

Managed complex asynchronous states and form validations seamlessly using RTK Query and React Hook Form.

Built scalable REST APIs with Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, using Mongoose for efficient schema modeling and data access.

Integrated OpenAI API for intelligent features and secured the application using JWT and NextAuth for robust role-based access.