The Future: Tech Savvy Disaster Response

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I was living here in Manila during Typhoon Ketsana (September 2009) and was impressed by how Facebook and Twitter quickly became the most reliable and most-used sources for information. “The evacuation center in Mandaluyong needs diapers”; “Volunteers meet at Ateneo, 6am”; “Can someone in Marikina check on Maria Navarro and family?  Haven’t heard from her yet. Address: …”; “I am collecting food, does anyone have a truck?”
 
Now, after the devastation in Port-Au-Prince, technology is having an even bigger impact.
 
A text messaging fundraiser (dial 90999 to donate $10) has raised more than $22 million for the American Red Cross.The New York Times writes that:
 
Mobile charitable donations have grown as the use of cellphones has expanded. Mobile donations for Hurricane Katrina, for instance, were $250,000, said Jim Manis, chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, a nonprofit that works with wireless companies and charities to set standards for text-message donations.
 
And Marketplace carried a story last Monday about “Crisis Camp” at the Sunlight Foundation – where developers have gotten together to devise ways to streamline the emergency response process using technology: for example, a Creole to English translation program; a “Craigslist-style” classified to match people’s needs with NGOs who can address them; a unified missing persons database; and up-to-date maps based on the latest satellite images.
 
Luc Castera, who was born in Haiti, was helping out at the Crisis Camp. “I'm also helping the geolocation team identify places that people are mentioning on Twitter because sometimes they don't have a way to know where that's located,” he told Marketplace reporter Brett Neely.
 
It’s a brave new world of disaster response when victims can Tweet their needs for the whole globe to see.
 
My initial reaction to the Facebook/Twitter phenomenon during Typhoon Ketsana was that this was a way for local people to mobilize themselves and each other before international aid could start flowing – before even government trucks started rolling. It was a targeted and efficient way for neighbors to respond to each other.
 
But it also could change the relationship between disaster survivors and aid agencies. In the past, survivors had to take what was given them, whether it met their needs or not. It was very hard to make their voices heard.
 
In the near future, the democratic flow of information could empower survivors to direct emergency aid from the start--reducing waste, and holding aid agencies accountable for their responsiveness.
 
If you enjoyed this piece on technological trends in disaster response, take a look at this post on investing in Haiti's future.
 
(Photo by IRRI images of the flooding following Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines; C.C. 2.0)