Social Media Tells the World About the Tragedy in Haiti
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Social media networks have the dubious distinction of being first on the scene at this terrible tragedy. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake stuck Port au Prince in Haiti on Tuesday afternoon at 5 PM. Seconds later people told the world about it on Twitter:
Felt that, loud and clear. We're in Cap Haitien. House (really the whole world) shook for about 30 seconds" -- Twitter user firesideint (Luke Renner)
this s***is still shaking! major earthquake in haiti!" -- Twitter user fredodupouxat (Frederic Dupoux)
"Just experienced a MAJOR earthquake here in Port au Prince - walls were falling down. - we are ALL fine - pray for those in the slums" -- Twitter user troylivesay
There were blogs:
"We're doing what we can to tell you the little that we know. In our area of Tabarre near the airport there are some buildings down. There are walls (the cement that surrounds buildings) down all over. People are in the streets afraid to go in their house. The aftershocks continue but are decreasing in severity and length. We cannot call anyone on a Digicel phone yet. The internet is spotty here at the WWV [World Wide Village] Guest House and non-existent at our house.
"People are gathering in open places and praying. Many have injuries but do not seek medical treatment because they cannot count on that so they wait till morning. EDH went out as the quake hit and the area is pitch dark.
"The reports that was best from an eyewitness in the hardest hit area of Carrfour was by [Troy's assistant] Tipap ... he works with our family and he said that he saw "many many bodies" and that churches, schools, and homes had collapsed. He was in a Tap Tap (truck for public transportation) when it happened.
"[Nanny] Jeronne cannot reach her family, nor can Tipap. We are all truthfully very scared. People are suffering in collapsed buildings and until daylight we don't even know how to report more -- it got dark about an hour after the main one hit. We had not had time to go out at that point. - - Troy Livesay's blog
There were more tweets:
"I saw a collapsed building today..it may have been 8 or 9 stories.it looked like 8 or 9 pieces of bread one on top of the other..survivors?" -- Twitter user RAMhaiti (Richard Morse)
"Night has fallen..the night seems to take so long..I guess those that are buried alive in the rubble are feeling it the worst..Prayers.". -- Twitter user RAMhaiti
"People in the streets are chanting as the night settles." -- Twitter user fredodupoux
As the world woke up to the enormity of the disaster, people were already using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to appeal for help. Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean sent requests out on Twitter. The Red Cross set up a text message program where you can donate $10 and charge it to your phone.
The power of social media in disasters and crises is now well established. We witnessed it during last years earthquake in China. We saw how it rallied people in the Iran protests. And now in this most recent tragedy, we see how it is being used as a lifeline. Social media brings us information instantly both good and bad. In this case it brought us something unimaginably sad.
Here are two more tweets that describe the despair:
Everyone camping in the streets of port-au-prince sleeping under stars to wake up from an awful nightmare. -- Twitter user Frederic Dupoux
"The streets are now the living rooms of the population. You don't have to drive to see the damage, where ever you walk there is something out of the ordinary..often the suffering is silent. -- Twitter user RAMhaiti
Social Media Tells the World About the Tragedy in Haiti
By: Sofia Sapojnikova
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