Is Social Media A Useful Disaster Recovery Tool?

Is Social Media A Useful Disaster Recovery Tool

?

The human and financial cost of natural disasters is untold as the true devastation of events such as hurricanes and earthquakes can go on for many years after the initial destruction, just look at Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans for proof of the longevity of such damage. However, it is often in the build up, and immediate aftermath of such events that people are most in need of help. This raises the question that with such prominence of social media, allowing people to connect with one another on a mass scale instantaneously, is there not a strong argument for the implementation of social media as part of disaster avoidance and containment strategy. With people being able to access immediate news through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook at any point of the day, whether it is from their computer or Smartphone, there is clearly a great opportunity to foreworn many hundreds if not thousands of people of any impending disaster.

Whilst people may only check news sites once or twice a day, and may therefore miss any such stories by several hours, the frequency with which we check our social connections is so regular that we are sure not to miss any big stories. This means that people can warn one another of any potential threat instantaneously and give them opportunity to prepare or flee from any affected area. Any stories can be posted through key opinion leaders who can then re-tweet or forward messages to followers who can then continue to re-post the stories. Specific profiles can even be set-up for such events and people can follow these profiles for up-to-date news about any natural occurrences.

However, the issue lies in the fact that some events occur so quickly and without warning that there is little or no chance to forewarn people about any potential dangers before it hits. This is therefore the second way that social media can be integrated into disaster management schemes. The platforms allow people to get in contact with one another to let loved ones know they are safe, or to find out where family members are. This has been aptly demonstrated by recent disasters in Japan and New Zealand where Google have released their Person Finder tool to great affect. The tool allows users to post their where abouts online for family to find them, or for them to search for loved ones who are currently missing.

Social media also allows for rescue services to determine where best to deploy their resources. Check-in services such as Facebook Places and Foursquare allow would-be-rescuers to determine where the majority of people who need help are, and as such, any rescue efforts can be directed to these locations to optimise resources. It is also a great way for people who are trapped or in out-of-reach places to make rescue services aware of their location.

Social media can also be used as part of a longer-term strategy to help alleviate the effects of such disasters for victims. Initially it can be used to help find locations for people to find shelter, whilst also seeking donations to help people who have lost everything. Networks such as Twitter and Facebook can be used to post links to websites where people are able to donate money or items such as clothing or shelter as well as offer up any help or assistance to those who have been affected. People are also able to share useful information such as emergency phone numbers, places to stay, safe zones, etc to give victims the best possible opportunity of coming through any events with the least possible amount of damage.

Social media is becoming so widely embraced by disaster recovery teams that members are now actively encouraged to use it to spread the good word and engage with would be donators. For example the Red Cross offer NGOs small video cameras to allow them to film their work and then encourage them to post videos and information on youtube and across the internet as a whole to raise awareness of the issue. This has therefore bypassed the need for traditional news agencies who would often fail to cover events in enough detail so as to make people aware of the severity of the situation and therefore the need for donations. This is why the need for events such as Live Aid and Red Nose Day arose, however, social media is helping to buck this trend. The success of this was demonstrated by the fact that $5 million was raised within the first 48hours after the recent Haitian disaster.

With this in mind, surely now is the time to be pushing for such services to be much better utilised in order to help those affected by such disasters. Therefore we should be looking to a Social Media Agency in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Vancouver, and all over the world as to how best to utilise social media to deal with such events.

In time I'm sure there will be many more opportunities for social media to help in disaster zones, but for now we must seek to use them to the best of our knowledge.

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