Google, Microsoft, The World Bank, and Yahoo are inviting developers to participate in the event that weekend. Random Hacks of Kindness, or RHoK, unites software engineers and disaster risk management experts to identify critical global challenges and develop software in response, the RHoK Web site states.

Previously, RHoK has produced applications such as "I'm OK," a cell phone application for broadcasting to a list of colleagues, friends, and family. It was used during the response to recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. A landslide prediction tool called "Chasm" also has been developed.

"[RHoK] is an opportunity to meet and work with top software developers and disaster experts to create and improve open source applications that enable communities to recover from disasters and to possibly win prizes," said Christiaan Adams, of the Google Crisis Response Team, in a blog post. RHoK will be held in multiple cities around the globe, with main stages to include Chicago; Sao Paolo,  Brazil; Aarhus, Denmark; Nairobi, Kenya; and Bangalore, India. Satellite events are planned for locations including New York City, Toronto, Berlin, San Francisco, and Birmingham, U.K. 

Developers can sign up at