F L A S H C L U B » Earthquake http://flashclub.ch/flog  The World Is What You Know Fri, 14 May 2010 12:50:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Preparing for the Next Haiti, with Maps, Texts and Tweets http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/preparing-for-the-next-haiti-with-maps-texts-and-tweets/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/preparing-for-the-next-haiti-with-maps-texts-and-tweets/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 13:46:18 +0000 Steven Aftergood http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/preparing-for-the-next-haiti-with-maps-texts-and-tweets/

]]> In the weeks following the January 12 earthquake, the relief effort in Haiti relied in part on crowdsourcing: an army of volunteers in the United States and elsewhere helped sift through emergency text messages , translated them and send them on to first responders on the scene. According to Rob Munro , a graduate fellow at Stanford who works with the nonprofit Energy for Opportunity , about 40,000 useful text messages came through the system in the first six weeks, meaning that thousands of Haitians received timely requests for food, water or medical help. At the height of the crisis, texts were arriving every few seconds. But volunteers were able to receive a message, translate it and and send a grid location to teams on the ground within a matter of minutes. But the high-tech Haiti volunteer response also depended in large part on personal connections, and the mobilization of the Haitian diaspora in North America, for it to work. Now development agencies, relief workers and even the U.S. government are looking at ways to reproduce the experiment in the next emergency. In a tech meetup yesterday at the State Department, several of the key players who helped set up SMS situation rooms for earthquake response pointed out that tapping social networks and information technology was easier said than done. Josh Nesbit of Frontline SMS Medic said that personal connections — and the intervention of members of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s staff — were key in persuading the military and the Coast Guard to respond to the directions sent by volunteers. “This was an ecosystem that sort of evolved and emerged out of thin air — and it was based almost entirely on personal relationships and trust,” said Luke Beckman of the nonprofit group InSTEDD .

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Preparing for the Next Haiti, with Maps, Texts and Tweets

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/army/preparing-for-the-next-haiti-with-maps-texts-and-tweets/feed/ 1 Tsunami warning lifted after 7.4 quake in Indonesia http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/tsunami-warning-lifted-after-7-4-quake-in-indonesia/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/tsunami-warning-lifted-after-7-4-quake-in-indonesia/#comments Sun, 09 May 2010 07:23:00 +0000 Steven Aftergood http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/tsunami-warning-lifted-after-7-4-quake-in-indonesia/

]]> Source: Reuters (Adds tsunami alert lifted, details) BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, May 9 (Reuters) – A local tsunami alert was issued and later lifted after an earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck Sumatra, Indonesia, the …

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Tsunami warning lifted after 7.4 quake in Indonesia

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/tsunami-warning-lifted-after-7-4-quake-in-indonesia/feed/ 0 Earthquake hits Indonesia’s Aceh http://flashclub.ch/flog/indonesia/earthquake-hits-indonesias-aceh/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/indonesia/earthquake-hits-indonesias-aceh/#comments Sun, 09 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000 Steven Aftergood Indonesia

]]> Indonesia has issued a tsunami alert after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck near the province of Aceh.

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Earthquake hits Indonesia’s Aceh

]]> http://flashclub.ch/flog/indonesia/earthquake-hits-indonesias-aceh/feed/ 1 Field diary: Returning to Haiti, UNICEF staffer finds hope http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/field-diary-returning-to-haiti-unicef-staffer-finds-hope/ http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/field-diary-returning-to-haiti-unicef-staffer-finds-hope/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 20:50:42 +0000 http://flashclub.ch/flog/uncategorized/field-diary-returning-to-haiti-unicef-staffer-finds-hope/

]]> Source: UNICEF PANAMA CITY, Panama, 5 May 2010 – I have just returned from Haiti, my first visit there since witnessing the indescribable destruction just after the 12 January earthquake.

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