Internet and Tsunami efforts
Jan 05, 2005 09:41 PM
by MKR
Internet is playing an invaluable role in helping the survivors, their
friends, relatives as well as in other ways. The following write up is very
informative.
mkr
======================
By Michael Coren
CNN
Wednesday, January 5, 2005 Posted: 11:23 PM EST (0423 GMT)
(CNN) -- The Internet has played an unprecedented role supplying aid, money
and information in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunamis.
Hours after the waves swallowed coastline and swamped villages, an
electronic movement was under way. Donations poured into aid agencies
through Web sites. Friends, relatives and strangers turned to the Web for
information about missing relatives and tsunami survivors.
Individuals, linked by an electronic network from text messages to Web
sites, began answering pleas for help, releasing lists of survivors and
funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to aid agencies even as
authorities struggled to gain control of the situation.
"It's been going on nonstop," said Andreas Hoistad, an IT worker in Norway,
who helped establish the Phuket Disaster Message Board a day after the
December 26 tsunamis.
The independent Web site, built by a few computer specialists with donated
time and hardware, offers more than 13,000 postings with lists of names,
descriptions of the damage, pictures of relatives and links for those
seeking to identify victims.
"The forum proved quite quickly that people involved in the disaster had a
great need for information," Hoistad said.
The electronic bulletin board has sections for the missing, reunited and news.
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