Web-based relief tools to help Haiti |
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Hundreds of tech volunteers spurred to action by Haiti's killer quake are adding a new dimension to disaster relief, developing new tools and services for first responders and the public in an unprecedented effort.
Volunteers have built and refined software for tracking missing people, mapping the disaster area and enabling urgent mobile phone text messaging. Organisations including the International Red Cross and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency have put the systems to use.
In a few hours, Tim Schwartz, a 28-year-old artist and programmer in San Diego, and 10 others had built www.haitianquake.com, an online lost-and-found site to help Haitians in and out of the country locate missing relatives. The website now has been merged into the Google project personfinder haiticrisis.appspot.com).
IFSW President David N Jones commented: 'social workers must welcome and embrace new forms of disaster response through social networking which offer new opportunities for those affected. Social work practice is already adapting to new technologies - for example text messaging service users and counselling by text. The profession welcomes new ways of reaching and supporting people. We will be discussing the long-term implications of the rapid pace of technological change in the world social work conference in Hong Kong in June 2010.'
Picture: © Dreamstime.com
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page last updated on 22.01.2010
