SM use for a greater purpose

Social Media is now an essential platform for two-way conversations and flow of info during disaster between those who manage emergencies and those who live and suffer through them.

Amplify’d from idisaster.wordpress.com

Crisis data, from and for impacted communities.

For instance, volunteer technical communities that mobilize resources early on aggregate and map information from the crowd. This is a complementary activity to those serving in official capacities that are responsible for critical infrastructure and emergency response. There are other examples that also show this complementary nature of efforts that may or may not duplicate data sources, but serve specific populations and needs at varying points of the response.

The nature of this complementary data was discussed a bit in a conversation this weekend about the upcoming National Level Exercise ’11 with Heather Blanchard of CrisisCommons. We talked about the importance of everyone–citizens, government response organizations and NGOs, having access to data that she calls community indicator data. Community Indicator Data could be defined as any data regarding the location and state of the infrastructure that serve the affected community. This could include: shelters, grocery store availability, communications (i.e. state of cell phone towers and telecoms) hospitals, banking/ATMs, water, fuel, power, etc. Some of this data can be highly localized and can fluctuate often during the recovery. But as Ms. Sutton also points out in her article, for citizens, it is important to be able to access this information in a meaningful format. Read more at idisaster.wordpress.com

 

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Was this a turning point for SM in EM?

It's becoming less and less necessary to convince senior executive of the need to integrate social media into emergency management practices, But just in case you need one more argument ...

Amplify’d from www.mediapost.com

Japan, Tragedy and Twitter: The Most Useful Crisis Tool Avaliable for free Posted March 15th, 2011 by kyle The recent earthquake and tsunami which has recently hit Japan is the scenario of nightmares. Something that one would never expect to happen, much less be forced to face reality and see the horrible destruction, loss of life and future damaging possibilities for the country and the world. As horrible an event which took place, the ability to stay updated to the situation and be aware of how it develops is important not only to the citizens of Japan but the rest of the world as well. Sure there are your normal news outlets and websites covering the major stories as they develop, but they can only say so much, in a certain period of time. What if your friends or family were over there? You wouldn’t want to wait for Anderson Cooper to deliver the news; you’d want to know as soon as possible. Twitter, the social media app which is most often associated with letting people know all the little moments in your life that most probably could care less about, has been one of the most powerful tools in communicating developing news updates, vital information, and a platform of communication for those wanting to retweet information or communicate with others to receive more information. I was on Twitter as the quake had begun, watched as people playfully tweeted that “It’s going to be a long day”, to sheer terror as tweet began reporting that the quakes didn’t stop. The first notice of a tsunami warning was retweeted by thousands as it made its way to Twitter, after the tsunami hit, reports began to flood in from Japanese news agencies and people living in the affect areas, all this was before any major news networks began to report the situation. Read more at www.mediapost.com

 

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Nuke power plant near NYC under review

Not a good idea to have the weakest link in your nuclear chain located not too far from the centre of the universe !

Amplify’d from www.ny1.com

Energy Secretary: Feds To Review Indian Point Location

Responding to concerns raised in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the Obama administration will look into whether the Indian Point power plant should remain where it is.

The plant, which sits just 25 miles from the Bronx, provides about a quarter of the city's power.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Chu said while officials believe Indian Point is safe, they will review evacuation plans in place at the power plant.

Chu suggested population may be a greater consideration in deciding where future nuclear plants are built. Read more at www.ny1.com

 

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The axis of the evil one ?

Lybia to sponsor terrorism? Again ?

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

WASHINGTON—U.S. intelligence agencies are watching for signs that a desperate Col. Moammar Gadhafi, under attack from a coalition air assault, could resort to acts of terrorism against Western targets. Col. Gadhafi has extensive stockpiles of mustard gas and high explosives at his disposal that could be used in attacks against targets in Europe or against his own people. He also has a documented history of orchestrating strikes against civilians and other world leaders. "U.S. officials are keeping an eye on that possibility," one U.S. official said. So far, counterterrorism officials in the U.S. and Europe believe there is a low probability of Col. Gadhafi returning to terrorism in the near term because he is focused for now on maintaining his hold on power during Western air strikes. "We haven't seen any intelligence yet" that he is actively reestablishing his terrorism ties or plotting attacks outside Libya, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. Another U.S. official called the likelihood "low," but added: "That being said, a madman's a madman." John Brennan, Mr. Obama's top White House counterterrorism adviser, has first-hand knowledge of Col. Gadhafi's past ties to terrorism. One of Mr. Brennan's colleagues at the CIA died aboard Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, an attack blamed on Col. Gadhafi.

U.S. Eyes Gadhafi Terror Response Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

 

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Nuclear food contamination an issue

Just when you thought things were starting to get under control!

Amplify’d from www.vancouversun.com

WHO: 'Serious' food radiation risks in Japan

TOKYO — The World Health Organization said on Monday that radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was a “serious situation,” eclipsing clear signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in the reactors.

Engineers managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, and started a water pump at one of them to reverse the overheating that has triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami left more than 21,000 people dead or missing and will cost an already beleaguered economy some $250 billion, but Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the situation at the nuclear plant was slowly improving.

Overshadowing the good news from the facility, however, was mounting concern that radioactive particles already released into the atmosphere have contaminated food and water supplies. Read more at www.vancouversun.com

 

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More nuclear worries

Where there's smoke, there's radiation?

Amplify’d from www.dailymail.co.uk

Nuclear plant staff evacuated as smoke rises from Japanese reactor

There were no reports of any explosions.

Smoke was this morning seen rising from the Number 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

Staff were evacuated from the area around the power plant and all work has been suspended after officials said the smoke was coming from an area where a core of spent nuclear fuel was being stored.

A joint task force set up between the government and the Tokyo Electric Company, which owns the site, was still trying to find a cause for the smoke. Read more at www.dailymail.co.uk

 

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First major nuke incident happened here

At Chalk River in the 1950s

Amplify’d from www.guardian.co.uk

Nuclear power plant accidents: listed and ranked since 1952

How many nuclear power plants have had accidents and incidents? Get the full list and find out how they're ranked • Get the data

The explosions and nuclear fuel rods melting at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, following the Sendai earthquake and tsunami last week, have caused fears of what will happen next. Today Japan's nuclear safety agency has raised the nuclear alert level for Japan from four to five - making it two levels lower than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

We have identified 33 serious incidents and accidents at nuclear power stations since the first recorded one in 1952 at Chalk River in Ontario, Canada.

The information is partially from the International Atomic Energy Authority - which, astonishingly, fails to keep a complete historical database - and partially from reports. Of those we have identified, six happened in the US and five in Japan. The UK and Russia have had three apiece. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk

 

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Where's the help?

Hospitals where patients must suffer in agony because there are no painkillers? In the world's third largest economy? And where they must go hungry? What's wrong with that picture more than a week after the disaster struck?

Amplify’d from www.edmontonjournal.com

Sendai hospitals go without painkillers, food

Two surgical operations were underway at Tohoku University Hospital in the city of Sendai on March 11 when Japan's strongest earthquake ever cut off the power. One was stopped and the patient stitched up. The other was completed with inhouse power generation.

In the following days, cancer patients were sent home because there was no medication for their chemotherapy. More than 1,000 patients lived for four days on bread, canned corned beef and dried biscuits, said Mio Onodera, a 25-year-old nurse. There are no painkillers, and intravenous tubes are being reused.

"We are doing things I can't even think of in normal times," Onodera said in a phone interview from Sendai. "The hardest thing is to ask patients to put up with the pain."

At the hospital in this coastal city of about one million, employees who lost family members care for elderly patients with dedication, said Katsutoshi Furukawa, a 50-year-old neurologist. At Suzuki Memorial Hospital nearby, all division heads are sleeping on-site and no one has showered for six days, said nursingdivision chief Katy Yagihashi, 53.

The hospitals of the Sendai region are on the front lines of Japan's worst crisis since the Second World War. As interviews with six medical professionals in the region show, they are being stressed as never before.

Doctors and nurses must treat injured quake victims -though there are few of them -as well as managing their ongoing caseload, scrounging food and water for employees and patients and handling the psychological toll of being 96 kilometres from a possible nuclear meltdown. Read more at www.edmontonjournal.com

 

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A great read about how people react

Interesting to fully realize the impact on culture on how people cope with large disasters.

Amplify’d from www.telegraph.co.uk

By Andrew Gilligan 7:00AM GMT 20 Mar 2011 24 Comments Nine days after Japan's tsunami, the remarkable truth is this. The people who have lost absolutely everything are coping far better than the people who have lost absolutely nothing. For 200 miles along the coast, the scene is an exact copy of an earlier Japanese horror. In the flattened towns, with their isolated skeletons of buildings and their hectares of rubble, Hiroshima is the only possible comparison. But at the evacuation centres in north-eastern Japan, survivors hold doors open for each other and bow politely to visitors. Postal service has resumed. The relief effort is going full blast, with even visiting foreigners offered food because there is so much. There's not much of anything else, admittedly. But across the disaster area, journalists have searched in vain for a single case of violence, looting, panic – or even queue-jumping. Time and again, you hear of lives saved by calmness, organisation and discipline. At one low-lying secondary school half a mile from the sea, the children lined up in the playground for a post-earthquake headcount; surely hundreds must have perished. Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

 

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Great admiration for the Japanese

It's always a mistake to confuse stoicism with fatalism and defeatism.

Amplify’d from www.smh.com.au

Tsunami victims stoic as compatriots in meltdown Andrew Gilligan March 21, 2011 NINE days after the tsunami, the remarkable truth is this. The people who have lost everything are coping far better than the people who have lost absolutely nothing. For 320 kilometres along the coast, the scene is a copy of an earlier Japanese horror. In the flattened towns, with their skeletons of buildings and their hectares of rubble, Hiroshima is the only comparison. But at the evacuation centres in north-eastern Japan, survivors hold doors open for each other and bow politely to visitors. Postal service has resumed. The relief effort is going full blast. And across the disaster area, journalists have searched in vain for a single case of violence, looting, panic - or even queue-jumping. Advertisement: Story continues below Instead there are stories of lives saved by calmness, organisation and discipline. At one low-lying high school less than a kilometre from the sea, children lined up in the playground for a post-earthquake headcount. The instant they saw the tsunami coming, and with little more than seconds to spare, the staff got 450 teenagers to a pre-planned fallback site on higher ground. The school is utterly wrecked, but every pupil in it that day lived. Read more at www.smh.com.au

 

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