India Covid Resources

In April 2021, India was hit by a devastating second wave of Covid-19. Hospitals were overflowing, oxygen was running out, and people were desperate for verified information about available resources -- beds, oxygen, medicines, and more.

Two online communities -- The Product Folks and Creators of Products -- came together with 200+ volunteers to build indiacovidresources.in, a platform that helped over 150,000 people access life-saving resources.

How It Started

It started with a tweet. I put out an open offer to create no-code apps using Glide for anyone who needed help during the crisis. The response was overwhelming, and it quickly became clear that the need was not for individual apps but for a centralized, verified resource directory.

Working with The Product Folks and Creators of Products, we mobilized a volunteer army to build and maintain a comprehensive database of Covid resources across India.

What We Built

The Resource Directory

The core product was a no-code app built on Glide in just 2 days. It provided verified, crowd-sourced information on:

• Hospital beds -- Availability across cities and districts
• Oxygen supply -- Verified sources for oxygen cylinders and concentrators
• Medicines -- Where to find Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, and other critical drugs
• Ambulance services -- Emergency transport contacts
• Plasma donors -- Connecting recovered patients with those in need
• Food and tiffin services -- For patients in isolation
• Mental health support -- Counselors and helplines for those struggling

The Donation Platform

We also built a donation website that was visited by 3 million users and helped raise over $500,000 over a period of 2 months. These funds went directly toward procuring oxygen concentrators, medicines, and other essential supplies.

The Scale

The numbers tell the story:

• 200+ volunteers working around the clock to verify and update resources
• 150,000+ users accessed life-saving information through the platform
• 500+ cities across India covered
• $500,000+ raised through the donation platform
• 3 million visits to the donation website
• Available in 10 Indian languages

Since its launch on April 25, 2021, the site saw more than one lakh (100,000) users from over five hundred cities in India.

How It Worked

The verification process was the backbone of the operation:

1. Volunteers sourced leads from social media, WhatsApp groups, and direct calls.
2. Verification teams called each lead to confirm availability -- a resource listed as available had to be confirmed within the last few hours.
3. Data entry teams updated the Glide app with verified information.
4. Moderation teams removed outdated resources to prevent people from wasting precious time on dead leads.

This was a 24/7 operation. Volunteers worked in shifts, coordinating through Slack and WhatsApp groups.

Learnings

No-Code Enabled Speed

Building the app in Glide meant we could go from idea to live product in 2 days. In a crisis, speed matters more than polish. No-code tools let non-technical volunteers contribute directly to the product.

Community Is the Moat

The technology was relatively simple. What made this work was the community -- 200+ people who dropped everything to volunteer their time and energy. The Product Folks community, already 14,000+ members strong, provided the foundation.

Verification Is Everything

An unverified resource directory is worse than no directory at all. Outdated leads waste time that people do not have. The most labor-intensive part of the operation was not building the app -- it was continuously verifying and updating the data.

Grief and Burnout Are Real

Many volunteers were processing their own grief while helping others. We lost people we knew. The emotional toll of this work was significant, and we learned the importance of supporting the volunteers themselves, not just the end users.

Looking Back

India Covid Resources was the most meaningful thing I have worked on. It was a stark reminder that technology is most powerful when it serves people in their moments of greatest need -- and that communities, when mobilized with urgency and purpose, can achieve extraordinary things.

If you were one of the 200+ volunteers who made this possible, thank you. You helped save lives.

For anyone interested in building impactful no-code products, this experience reinforced a core belief: you do not need to be a developer to build something that matters.