In theory, national governments should take care of thetsunami, cyclone and earthquake monitoringand alerts related to natural disasters. But the truth is thatin recent years social media seems to be largely taking over, as just published by the International Development Research Center (IDCR) of Canada. According to the authors of the report, many users in recent months have used tweets as a primary source of information to find out if an earthquake felt under their feet was really an earthquake, or what the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said about it. to an earthquake that had just occurred.
The last earthquake that struck Sumatra last week, and the consequent fear of the threat of a possible tsunami, was a clear example of how the tranquility of thousands of eyes watching and narrating what happens live can change the way of approaching disasters help to take measures and minimize their possible negative effects on the population.
At the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, they are also looking at how they were usedTwitter and Facebook to find or spread information during Cyclone Yasi, the largest in the history of Australia. In their research, the scientists discovered that the first to go to social media are not usually official bodies, but citizens. ? It is clear that people are very respectful of social networks and that they use them because they want to share information that can help others, especially in these situations, “says Helen Partridge, co-author of the research.
Another extensively analyzed case is that of2011 Japan tsunami. As announced last week in the Japanese capital by the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo,the microblogging platform aims to strengthen itself as a tool to help in the event of natural disasters. A fact to bear in mind: currently around 500 public institutions use Twitter in Japan, five times more than before the catastrophe of March 11, 2011.
