News
Text-message information service for Haitian earthquake survivors
27 January 2010
The Thomson Reuters Foundation has set up a free
disaster-information service for the people of Haiti. The service allows
survivors of Haiti's earthquake to receive critical information by text
message directly to their phones, free of charge.
To register, survivors subscribing to the Digicell network, the largest
in the Caribbean, simply text their location to the SMS shortcode 4636.
By return, up-to-date, reliable, actionable information will be sent to
them wherever they are in Haiti, helping them to reach shelter, aid and
loved ones. The service will cost them nothing.
The service also acts as a news and information gathering mechanism,
whereby survivors can report information directly into the EIS team of
specialist journalists. The EIS team will collate this information and
it will by made available to agencies, emergency teams and local media.
People outside of Haiti and the quake zone can register their loved
ones' cell phone numbers on their behalf.
The EIS also aims to get critical information to survivors via local
media, especially radio, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation already has
a team of expert humanitarian journalists in Haiti working around the
clock to collect and disseminate information. Working with technology
partner InSTEDD and aid agencies including the Red Cross, the Thomson
Reuters Foundation aims to help Haitians with practical information to
help them take control of their own recovery.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, Monique Villa, said, "In times of
major natural catastrophes, information itself is aid, as crucial as
shelter or blankets. All forms of communication in Haiti have been
impaired and the EIS team will help fill the communication void
providing reliable, actionable information to the disaster affected
population.
"We only launched our new service in December on the fifth year
anniversary of the Asian Tsunami and whilst you never want or anticipate
significant natural disasters, I am pleased that our service is now up
and running so that we can come to the aid of the people of Haiti."
To register for the service:
- If inside Haiti: text your location to 4636 directly from
your own
phone.
- If inside Haiti and registering someone else's phone number:
send a
text with REGISTER or REGISTRE and the loved ones' number and
location, to 4636.
- If overseas: text REGISTER or REGISTRE and the loved ones'
local Haiti number, and location to +4673-749-4535.
Note: The SMS shortcode is dependent on local telecom infrastructure;
if the infrastructure fails, the local SMS service will not work
About The EIS
The Emergency Information Service is a first service of its kind,
launched by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in December 2009. The EIS
will be deployed when major natural disasters strikes communities around
the world, leaving them with no reliable communication infrastructure.
EIS Action-Units will be deployed within hours of a disaster and upon
arrival in the disaster zone will seek out, collate and disseminate
life-saving information to disaster-hit populations. Key to the EIS if
the use of local language for the affected population.
Thomson Reuters Foundation has developed groundbreaking technology to
allow the EIS team and other groups to assimilate and process multiple
information streams in an emergency. The tools let the EIS Action-Units
generate information services for dissemination in local languages via
SMS, email and web page. When all communications are down, the EIS will
turn to low-tech means such as leaflets, community notice boards and
even megaphones. The Thomson Reuters Foundation joined by the Red Cross
to act as a key delivery partner in disaster zones.
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