In the midst of widespread flooding in Manila, which displaced more than 80,000 residents and caused at least 50 deaths by unofficial count, a digital lifeline emerged. Filipino citizens, non-profit organizations and government agencies have been using social media to coordinate relief efforts and rescue missions.
The Philippines, one of the most social media-savvy countries in the world, relied on Facebook and Twitter to disseminate information as people pleaded for rescuers to retrieve them from the rooftops of their homes.
Roughly half of the population uses social networks — something that government rescue workers, volunteers and media outlets used to their advantage by creating unified hashtags to spread information more efficiently. #RescuePH is for rescue calls; relief aid’s hashtag is #ReliefPH, breaking news falls under #FloodsPH, and official government alerts are tagged with #PHalert.
Social media users also created a relief center map on Google Maps and a rescue request form.
Do you think consolidated hashtags and online coordination make a noticeable difference in disaster response, or is an official rescue request form an unnecessary step in relief aid? Let us know in the comments. (Mashable.com)
