In the aftermath of disasters like the tsunami in West Sumatra and the eruption of Mount Merapi in Central Java, everyone can contribute and participate. They can play their own role. Whatever they can do to help the victims, survivors, rescuers and volunteers.
Or you can even contribute as an online volunteer –share useful links and info through Twitter, blog, instant messaging or even short message service.
You also can try to use and optimize Ushahidi platform that’s powered by public users and could “map out disaster areas more quickly and effectively than governments can,” according to CNN. “The more information about a disaster you can make public, the better… You don’t need specific technical skills to volunteer, just an internet connection.”
They introduce themselves:
The Ushahidi Platform allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. Our goal is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response.
Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi’s roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used to map incidents of violence and peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web and mobile phone. This initial deployment of Ushahidi had 45,000 users in Kenya, and was the catalyst for us realizing there was a need for a platform based on it, which could be use by others around the world.
Can someone out there start to sign-up and create the Mentawai and Merapi Crisis Map in the Ushahidi Platform so people can start to share data into the platform?