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Social Networking and Recovery From the Great Hurricaneof 2009
2009 June 20tags:Government
 
,Media,Communication, Newspapers
 
,Technology
 
,Volunteerism,Hurricanes,Weather ,Disaster Recovery
 
,TED,Social Media,FEMA,Hurricane,Social Networking,Twitter ,OnStar ,Wordpress,Philippines   by Mitch Chester 
The morning after was like waking up from Katrina all over again. Most structures were reduced to pieces in the aftermath of theCategory 4 hurricane, which gave only three days warning as to its intendedpath. Hundreds of thousands of residents were displaced,and many were missing. Drinking water was scarce, and food supplies were interrupted. Residents knew it would be months beforeany sense of normalcy could even be envisioned.
 
FEMA
was responding as quickly as it could, but the enormity of the logistical and bureaucratic taskslowed meaningful aid for days. Americawas mobilizing, once again, in the wake of a great natural disaster.
But this time it was entirely different.
 Immediately after the full extent of the cyclonic nightmare was realized, high energy groups of organizers worked on
Twitter
to organizehurricane relief, item-by-item and project-by-project. Contacts with local governmentalofficials were made and innovative coordination soonfollowed. Those ready to help energetically focused on re-building houses. Others concentrated on sending food.Still more collected clothing for immediate distribution. There were effortsto re-open critical businesses, like super markets. Spontaneous groups fromaround the United States, indeed the world, organized with governmentofficials in a matter of hours to designate drop off points, arrange for transportation of supplies and goods, and worked to collect needed fundsfor the
Red Cross
and other organizations that were ready to intercede onthe front lines of recovery.
Suddenly, in the curious language of 
Twitter
, “#hurricane” became themost vital collection of letters on the internet.
 Live steaming video channels were developed, in a matter of minutes, on
UStream.tv
and
 JustIn.tv
, devoted to serving as responsible voices to assistin information flow, including search and recovery efforts. The showswere staffed by volunteers who took their tasks very seriously… and websites were used to supplement the live video effort and post missing person,volunteer and rebuilding information by providing detailed information,victim by victim, of what was needed to recover.
Twitter
 
also linked tothose sites, and spread the word with its informative 140 character efficiency.Teams of ordinary citizens, with the sole mission of digitally imaging and documenting where and how assistance was needed, entered thewidely affected geographical region and teamed with private Internet service providers to help build electronic data bases of crippledmunicipalities and their needs. At the same time, cell towers were beingrepaired and mobile cell installations were being transported toreconnect the region.
Google
 ,
 Ask.com
 ,
Yahoo
and
 Bling
set up specialpages linking to all the emergency recovery information there was to
After a severe ice stormin 2008, social media made a difference.
 
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Page 1of 9Social Networking and Recovery From the Great Hurricane of 2009 «6/22/2009http://sharedemergency.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/social-networking-and-recovery-from-t...
 
read.Special web broadcast mapping software tracked the progress of relief efforts, and showed, on a daily basis, that some areas were not gettingthe aid they needed. Updated maps, based upon real-time and analytical analysis (courtesy
Google Analytics
 
and
 ArcView
)
showingdamagedutilities, the approximate number of homes and apartments destroyed, andthe number of people reporting medical emergencies weredeveloped. They were updated daily to accurately pinpoint the sections of towns with the most need.In response, social networking groupswere able to launch aid efforts block by block, like never before. Health care was delivered more efficiently as mobile clinics knew where to goas disease outbreaks appeared, and roads were cleared earlier to enable them to get there. Through these combined efforts, this spedup aid tothe lesser known areas of need.Groups devoted to housing hurricane weary individuals mobilized better, in part, due tothe fastest information gathering campaign in naturaldisaster history.As cellular service started to pick up in ground zero, mobile texting and cellular video reports about the recovery were posted on line.Freshfrom the Iran uprising of June and earlier events in Africa, technology helped filter the reliability of the never-ending crisis data.
General Motors OnStar
and other “connected vehicle communication services” wereused to wirelessly link from the impacted areas andhelped serve as unintended reporters of conditions for governmental and civilian recovery efforts.Emergency Management officials posted their printed and published needs on
Scribd 
in a special group devoted to hurricane recovery, andupdated them.
 Facebook, Twitter
 
and
 Flickr
groups linked hurricane relief videos and channels to
You Tube, Current TV, AOL,
 
and
Vimeo.
I-Reporterswere everywhere for 
CNN 
.
Translation for international blog readers was provided by
GlobalVoicesOnline.org
 
and
Google
.
 Newsvine
and
 Reuters
 
 AlertNet.org
did their part and updated foreign audiences about the need for help.Groups such as
 AllForGood.org
 
registered volunteers by the thousands, with a speed that was previously unimaginable, aided by all the postdisaster social media outlets.The White House, using its website, offered information from Washington, and
FEMA
instantly became partnered with responsible citizendisaster information services in its efforts to avoid the mistakes of Katrina and enhance the recovery.Bloggers on
WordPress
 
and other services reported not only the needs of the hurricane target area, but what their local groups were doing, andupdated them sometimes more than once a day. Even the Governors and AttorneyGenerals of the affected states opened up live video channelsto broadcast important legal information about price gouging and state relief efforts on the net.
It was true. The nation was “networked leveraged” for recovery.
  No longer was it necessary for local print newspapers to take days to plead for help oncethe printing pressers were put back together. This timevoices and cries for help were heard instantly and the response was profound. The variedelectronic efforts comprised a spontaneous collectionof good will initiatives that alerted the world to the vast devastation. Just as in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, private industry and non-governmental organizations stepped in to push relief to meaningful and expedited levels. Satellitetransmissions to and from the affected regionwere set up while land lines were just beginning to be restored. Combined with private telecommunications efforts, contact with ”dead zones”was soon made. Soon the electronic effort covered all regions, not just those outside the Hurricane’s target.As the efforts continued, web conferences between individuals and groups were set up on
Go-To-Meeting
and
 Acrobat Connect
 
to further coordinate relief delivery efforts. Internet radio stations broadcast on
 Pandora
 
and other broadcastprotals which were devoted to recoveryefforts sprang up and helped with the increasing information flow and emergency fund raising.Soon, because of all the interconnected Internet activities, the missing were located, and the efforts to replant the displaced were excelled because of the innovative role of disaster relief social networking.Six months following the start of the efforts,
FEMA
held summit of the Internetrelief organizations, and a review was done to see what waslearned.
The conclusion: The new media, through its crowd sourcing capabilities, helpedAmerica recover much faster, and in ways noone thought were possible just a few years prior.
 
Yes, in 2009, social media gave a whole new name to disaster relief and recovery.
In 2010 and theyears that followed, special cell phonesensors helped track geographical areas for recovery data immediately before and after hurricanes by monitoring weatherconditions and population flow. (See the
 Economist
 
article, “Sensors and sensitivity” in the June 6, 2009 edition). Theeffort was not limited to the UnitedStates, but was used in the Philippines, Latin America and the Far East. In the years since, technologicalinnovations continued to provide evengreater tools…
At the dawn of the internet…we had no idea how useful itwould become in times of devastation or how we could leverage it to recoverfrom Mother Nature.
 
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Page 2of 9Social Networking and Recovery From the Great Hurricane of 2009 «6/22/2009http://sharedemergency.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/social-networking-and-recovery-from-t...
 
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