You want to see some heroes? Here's what I saw in Port Arthur today. https://t.co/aiIKyCg7hO pic.twitter.com/qeC4GtsKbp
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 31, 2017
Apart from (doing our best) staying positive, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the week?
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From Quartz, pretty good use of social media — “A three-day-old crowdsourcing website is helping volunteers save lives in hurricane-hit Houston”:
On the night of Sunday, Aug. 28, Matthew Marchetti was one of thousands of Houstonians feeling powerless as their city drowned in tropical storm Harvey’s deluge.
By Monday morning, the 27-year-old developer, sitting in his leaky office, had slapped together an online mapping tool to track stranded residents. A day later, nearly 5,000 people had registered to be rescued, and 2,700 of them were safe.
If there’s a silver lining to Harvey, it’s the flood of civilian volunteers such as Marchetti who have joined the rescue effort. It became pretty clear shortly after the storm started pounding Houston that the city would need their help. The heavy rains quickly outstripped authorities’ ability to respond. People watched water levels rise around them while they waited on hold to get connected to a 911 dispatcher. Desperate local officials asked owners of high-water vehicles and boats to help collect their fellow citizens trapped on second-stories and roofs…
The idea behind his project, Houstonharveyrescue.com, is simple. The map lets people in need register their location. They are asked to include details—for example, if they’re sick or have small children—and their cell phone numbers.
The army of rescuers, who can also register on the site, can then easily spot the neediest cases. A team of 100 phone dispatchers follows up with those wanting to be rescued, and can send mass text messages with important information. An algorithm weeds out any repeats.
It might be one of the first open-sourced rescue missions in the US, and could be a valuable blueprint for future disaster volunteers…
Maryland shelter receives 100 animals from Texas (WARNING: Dangerously cute video of dogs and cats!) —-> https://t.co/VOK1ztLDxj
— NBCWashington (@nbcwashington) September 1, 2017
No seriously, it is someone's job to create the support infrastructure to save these animals. This is why emergency managers are awesome. https://t.co/seLAkhTtHA
— Moira Whelan (@moira) September 1, 2017
— Tamara Cofman Wittes (@tcwittes) September 1, 2017
Friday Morning Open Thread: Look for the HelpersPost + Comments (90)