Ushahidi in Haiti

It is hard to think about much other than Haiti.  UNFPA estimates that there are 37,000 pregnant women in Port au Prince in need of all sorts of services-- including counseling.

The BBC showed footage of a woman who had had nothing to eat for seven days going into labor on the streets (the team insisted she get to the hospital and she delivered safely with intervention).   A single bright spot is the fact that without Ushahidi, it seems it could have been worse.  Ushahidi (Haiti.ushahidi.com) is demonstrating the new paradigm for crowdsourcing information in a disaster and breaking new ground in coordinating relief efforts.  It is sobering, but it is hard to imagine how such a cataclysmic event is/was managed without this technology.  Their short code (4636) in Haiti allows sms text messages to be sent to a centralized location where 'incident reports' on violence, bodies, trapped live individuals and health facilities can be collected and triaged.  Triaging relies on volunteers who read the reports and calls for help, validate them and then connect relief workers and others to the specific need or incident reported. Ushahidi collects and maps all the incidents visually-- and integrates reports sent on the website, emails and the sms texts. It is distributed crisis management from afar.  Reading the reports that come into their site is literally like looking at a 911 transcript.  This is what a tiny portion of the stream looks like-- it maps to a street level map of Haiti. 

1348 URGENT SOS: DELMAS 28B #198 possible survivors
1346 Maison de Lumiere (Lighthouse Orphanage)
1345 General Hospital OK after Jan 20 quake
1344 Gros Morne - Internal displacement continues
1343 NGO needs food and supplies
1342 1000 People Camping Ruins of Villa Manrese, NO FOOD or H20
1341 Fond Parisien - LoveAChild Orphanage turned into field hospital
1340 Food/Water needed in Croix des Bouquets and Noailles - Internet available
1339 Food/Medical assistance needed corner of Rue Clerveau & Rue Louverture, Gonaives
1338 Grand Goave - 5 buildings collapses from jan 20 quake
1337 Food/Water/Supplies Needed, - No internet - Port-Margot
1336 Food Needed, House Colapsed in Leogane
1335 Milk/Assistance needed - Basile Moreau School, Bizoton 53, Carrefour - Internet open Lamanten 54 Rue Kotko (not mapped)