Online Community Aids in Katrina Relief Efforts

Along with our colleagues in other parts of the tech sector, the search engine community is starting to respond to the devastation Hurricane Katrina left along the northern Gulf coast. Several blogs, forums and search tools have been redesigned, rewritten or refocused to aid in relief efforts. Google, MSN, Yahoo, and Lycos have all announced the development and implementation of tools to assist disaster victims and those who want to help. Over the past few days, civic officials and police have stated that most of what was New Orleans has been rendered uninhabitable. This condition will not change after the waters are pushed back behind the belatedly reinforced levies. Homes, business and pubic structures will need to be destroyed or reinforced before a decontamination effort the likes of which has never been contemplated in human history is undertaken. The city will not be livable for months at best. Refugees, who number in the hundreds of thousands, have lost their homes, possessions and jobs. Everything was washed away, broken or contaminated. There are few paying jobs in a city that no longer exists. The most romantic city in North America has, for all purposes other than relief, simply ceased to be. Google has added a Google Maps that shows flood damage in most parts of New Orleans . Reports earlier today said that 60% of the city remained under water, down from the peak of 80% in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. Bill Kilday, a member of the Google Earth team, used the NOAA were used to create over 100 map overlays within 24-hours of the hurricane. Brave words aside, nobody knows if the city can be rebuilt in its present location. Having defied the elements for over two hundred years, the great city on the Mississippi delta might ultimately be uninsurable. The first concern is the health of survivors and reuniting families. During the confusion of the first days, evacuees were sent to dozens of centers in New Orleans and in nearby cities such as Houston , Baton Rouge and Atlanta . Families were divided by urgent necessity and now have no way of contacting their loved ones or friends. The Red Cross is using lists compiled by FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security as the basis of a survivor database. A Lycos is also spidering survivor lists, media sites and discussion forums to provide a list of names of those impacted in one way or another by Katrina. These lists can be lengthy so people searching them should use the FIND option provided by both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Arguably the most successful blog of all time, Lost Family and Friends , locating Volunteer Resource List for those who want to help out. While not an official information site, TeamRescue Mission . TeamRescue, along with a number of other MoveOn.org provides two databases for those who need or who can provide housing at Wired News reports that " Intel, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, SBC Communications, Dell and others are working with the Red Cross to build voice and data communications at hundreds of evacuation shelters, and link them together."Most large corporations are also matching employee relief donations dollar for dollar. According to the Red Cross, over 75% of the $21 million it has received in donations thus far has come from the Internet. In New Orleans , two major tech firms have managed to keep up and running from the upper floors of a skyscraper though supplies of diesel fuel for their generator are limited. Again as reported by DirectNIC remained online throughout the hurricane and still continue to provide hosting services. Their Internet connection, a fiber line buried ten stories below the city, survived the disaster intact. Another way to help survivors is to keep them out of harms way. When disaster strikes, predators come out of the woodwork to prey on people. A post at Threadwatch titled " StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth is the result of the consolidation of BraveArt Website Management, Promotion Experts, and Phoenix Creative Works, and has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. http://www.stepforth.com/ Tel - 250-385-1190 Toll Free - 877-385-5526 Fax - 250-385-1198