The small South Pacific country where I live experienced its second worst natural disaster in its short history recently. The country's second largest city was all but wiped out in a major earthquake which has left thousands of homes and buildings irreparably damaged. It will take upwards of 15 years and billions of dollars to rebuild.
More than 200 people are thought to have died and a fifth of the residents have since fled - many of whom will never return. The area is being bombarded with continual aftershocks which add immeasurably to the stress levels of those who have stayed and those who have come from all parts of the country to help clean up.
The quake struck towards the end of the lunch-hour, on a weekday afternoon. Children were at school, parents were at work and people were going about their normal day when the quake - 6.3 magnitude but centred at a very shallow depth - struck. It brought down supposedly earthquake-proof buildings, including two multi-storey office blocks, in which people were working, studying or visiting. There have been many stories of both heroism and of despair.
In times of a disaster of such magnitude, the greatest difficulty is not knowing what's going on. Not knowing what to do or where to go. Not knowing what's the safest course of action or what's going to put you in danger. Not knowing where the other members of your family are or if they are safe, and not knowing how to reach them.
The quake decimated the city's phone and power lines. Communication was only achievable through cell phone, and then only patchily as the network struggled under the huge volume of calls. Many people who had run for their lives had no time to pick up their belongings, leaving behind handbags, wallets and cell phones. Even if they'd picked up their car keys and their vehicle hadn't been squashed under tonnes of rubble, there was no way they could drive home - the roads were bent, buckled, blocked, cracked and flooded with liquefaction. This meant no access to radio broadcasts telling them what was going on.
Almost immediately, however, social networking emerged as the best way of passing on information. Hashtags were set up on Twitter that ran - and are still running - a constant stream of information. If you need to know where the free showers are, where to go to lodge an insurance claim, how long it will be before the portaloos arrive in your neighbourhood, or the current death toll, everything is being communicated via Twitter. In fact, if you had no other means of communication except this, you were better informed than most.
Of course, for many, this was impractical. No power meant no computers - even if they survived the quake - and no method of charging cell phones, either. But very quickly power was restored to most of the city, allowing citizens to come up to speed on what was going on around them. It also allows those of us not living in the quake zone to do our bit to help by passing on information to our networks.
But even so, Twitter has emerged as the social media of choice for a disaster. Messages are short and to the point. They provide a link to more information, and can be sent by anyone from their PC or their phone. This latter makes Twitter an excellent tool for imparting urgent messages quickly. Its viral nature means it can spread to a huge number of people almost simultaneously.
Instead of messages having to be sent to a media organisation for dissemination, tweets are direct. No editing, no manipulation by authorities who want to keep information quiet and no time delay. People can find out what you have to tell them in seconds, rather than hours.
Despite being a social media practitioner, I had never before considered the use of Twitter for disaster or crisis communication. But from my observations of the Christchurch earthquake and its aftermath, I now believe that for any company doing disaster planning - which many more will be doing as a result of this quake - incorporating Twitter into its information channels is imperative. Smart phones are becoming more numerous, not less, so the number of people who can access Twitter while mobile only continues to grow, making this channel even more effective.
It's good to know that in a disaster, there is still a way of knowing what's going on.
More than 200 people are thought to have died and a fifth of the residents have since fled - many of whom will never return. The area is being bombarded with continual aftershocks which add immeasurably to the stress levels of those who have stayed and those who have come from all parts of the country to help clean up.
The quake struck towards the end of the lunch-hour, on a weekday afternoon. Children were at school, parents were at work and people were going about their normal day when the quake - 6.3 magnitude but centred at a very shallow depth - struck. It brought down supposedly earthquake-proof buildings, including two multi-storey office blocks, in which people were working, studying or visiting. There have been many stories of both heroism and of despair.
In times of a disaster of such magnitude, the greatest difficulty is not knowing what's going on. Not knowing what to do or where to go. Not knowing what's the safest course of action or what's going to put you in danger. Not knowing where the other members of your family are or if they are safe, and not knowing how to reach them.
The quake decimated the city's phone and power lines. Communication was only achievable through cell phone, and then only patchily as the network struggled under the huge volume of calls. Many people who had run for their lives had no time to pick up their belongings, leaving behind handbags, wallets and cell phones. Even if they'd picked up their car keys and their vehicle hadn't been squashed under tonnes of rubble, there was no way they could drive home - the roads were bent, buckled, blocked, cracked and flooded with liquefaction. This meant no access to radio broadcasts telling them what was going on.
Almost immediately, however, social networking emerged as the best way of passing on information. Hashtags were set up on Twitter that ran - and are still running - a constant stream of information. If you need to know where the free showers are, where to go to lodge an insurance claim, how long it will be before the portaloos arrive in your neighbourhood, or the current death toll, everything is being communicated via Twitter. In fact, if you had no other means of communication except this, you were better informed than most.
Of course, for many, this was impractical. No power meant no computers - even if they survived the quake - and no method of charging cell phones, either. But very quickly power was restored to most of the city, allowing citizens to come up to speed on what was going on around them. It also allows those of us not living in the quake zone to do our bit to help by passing on information to our networks.
But even so, Twitter has emerged as the social media of choice for a disaster. Messages are short and to the point. They provide a link to more information, and can be sent by anyone from their PC or their phone. This latter makes Twitter an excellent tool for imparting urgent messages quickly. Its viral nature means it can spread to a huge number of people almost simultaneously.
Instead of messages having to be sent to a media organisation for dissemination, tweets are direct. No editing, no manipulation by authorities who want to keep information quiet and no time delay. People can find out what you have to tell them in seconds, rather than hours.
Despite being a social media practitioner, I had never before considered the use of Twitter for disaster or crisis communication. But from my observations of the Christchurch earthquake and its aftermath, I now believe that for any company doing disaster planning - which many more will be doing as a result of this quake - incorporating Twitter into its information channels is imperative. Smart phones are becoming more numerous, not less, so the number of people who can access Twitter while mobile only continues to grow, making this channel even more effective.
It's good to know that in a disaster, there is still a way of knowing what's going on.
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