Slashdot Mirror
IT and Natural Disasters
rikomatic writes "The Asian tsunami in December has dramatically shown how much SMS, email and the web are now indispensible parts of disaster recovery. The folks at the Digital Divide Network have organized a virtual conference on 'How New Media and the Internet are Reshaping Tsunami Relief Efforts' on Wednesday, Jan 12 at 10am, EST. Among the featured speakers will be Dina Mehta, co-founder of the Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. In the hours following the tsunami, she and a group of South Asian bloggers created the volunteer-driven web portal for tsunami relief news and resources. Beyond using IT to coordinate post-disaster relief efforts, early warning is another critical need. Hopefully the UN's World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan later this month will address the IT infrastructure needed to make sure that people get advance warning before the next natural disaster strikes."
Bringing the traffic accidents of the world to a screen near you.
And if the tsunami had been smaller than expected? All you;d hear is "Look at those idiots at the earthquak/tsunami warning center! They cost the government of "country here" $XXX dollars for no reason! They shall burn ni hell!"
One of the many reasons to ignore COST when it comes to GOVENRMENT. Providing for the common welfare is often far more expensive than the greedy misers known as the rich would be willing to pay for. FAR better to cost several billion dollars of economic dislocation than lose a single human life- but then that's coming from somebody who actually believes that human live is valuable. Not all would agree.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
ham = radio. Big deal.
It's old and not good enough anymore.
Make Wifi inexpensive and have it connect to the net.