Get Involved in Gustav Online Volunteer Efforts

Photo by Christine

As you know by now, Hurricane Gustav looks even more destructive than Katrina (see this round up from Lisa Stone, BlogHer, of the news reports and links).  Three years ago, in the wake of the devastating storm, social media and others started organizing online.  This time, online organizing efforts using social media are happening before the storm hits.   

Take for example this widget created by Cerada,  Hurricane Gustav widget for iPhone, mobile device or Web site/blog, which allows you to list yourself and indicate whether you are offering
shelter, looking for someone or are an evacuee.  The widget's resources
tab also answers the following questions asap:

• CNN Coverage of Gustav
• Gustav Wiki
• Gustav08 on Ning
• Gustav podcasts from NOAA
• How do I add a resource?
• How do I find an evacuee?
• How do I let people know where I've evacuated to?

Andy Carvin of NPR's Social Media guru, interrupted his self-imposed summer blogging siesta, to help organize online efforts and coordinate volunteers.  For coordinating online volunteer efforts, he has set up a social network called the Gustav Information Center. He is hoping it will work  like Katrina Aftermath,
with aggregations of content generated by the public, news orgs and govt agencies.  He notes that the social networking tools will allow folks to use it as a place to coordinate volunteer activities. 

He has also set up a wiki called GustavWiki.com, initially populated with content from pages created three years ago for Katrina.  He's asking folks to go through each page and make sure the information is accurate and appropriate for Gustav. If you want to volunteer for a page, see the wiki to-do list
discussion on Gustav Information site.

Inspired by the Twitter feed that Nate Ritter set up to aggregate news during the San Diego Fires in the Fall of 2007, Joe Solomon (aka EngageJoe) set up GustavFeed on Twitter. It aggregates feeds from many sources.

Grace Davis, who was enjoying the last few days of summer on the deck, is now taking a lead helping role on the Gustav Information Center.  (She posted this update of evacuation list links on her blog earlier).

Claire Johnson from the Red Cross points us to the Red Cross Online Newsroom and is also giving updates on Twitter @redcross.

You can also follow updates about Gustav on Twitter.  If you search on the hash tag #gustav, you'll find many relevant threads.  In addition, there are people on the ground in the Hurricane's path providing live updates:

@GustavReporter
@UrbanReporter
@MarkMayhew

Social media is making easy for those of us who are not in area effected by the storm to volunteer.  So, why not volunteer to help add or edit content on the GustavWiki.com or use any one the above sources to help spread the word.

Additional Resources

The Authentic Eccentric
CauseWired, Coming Round Again
Connie Bensen, Power of Social Media

Comments

[Connie Bensen]

Thanks Beth for putting together a list of resources!
Connie

[Katie Waterhouse]

Beth, thank you so much for all of this helpful information and the great links! I wanted to add another important piece of information as well and that is that the health and safety of those affected by hurricane Ike directly is paramount, however the volunteers that are going into Ike's affected area are also still very much in harm's way. My request is simple: Volunteers, get vaccinated!

There are a few life saving vaccines that volunteers may need
especially if they come in contact with contaminated water, or if they are engaged in reconstruction or debris removal.

I work at Passport Health, a nationwide travel immunization clinic. We were first respondents during Katrina and we vaccinated those that were doing similar work to what Ike volunteers are going to do. The recommended vaccinations include:

* Hepatitis A & B
* Influenza
* Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis
* Typhoid for water exposure

For more information, please go to www.passporthealthusa.com. or read read our blog at http://internationaltravelvaccines.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Katie