The Hindu : International : The tsunami bloggers have their day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

International

International

The tsunami bloggers have their day

By Patrick Barkham© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

LONDON, DEC. 29. The tsunami left Paola di Maio in Phuket with little more than four litres of water but, crucially, an Internet connection. As the information systems designer and her friends helped with the rescue effort while helicopters buzzed overhead, she realised that one thing was missing: information.

Together with Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, and a small band of other Internet enthusiasts in the region, including some students from New Delhi and a television producer in Sri Lanka, Ms. Di Maio set up SEA-EAT, the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog. Visited by 21,000 people on December 28, it has fast become the key online clearing house for people to share information and contact details.

Online search

While government hotlines jam or ring unanswered and international aid efforts appear uncoordinated, desperate relatives have gone online to search for their loved ones or simply to help the aid effort. At the scene of the disaster, survivors have also bypassed official communication channels. As well as virtual notice boards, hundreds of actual notice boards have sprung up. Names, numbers, photographs and appeals for information about missing friends and relatives have been pinned up outside hospitals and beside resorts in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India.

No surprise

The founders of the virtual rescue centres such as SEA-EAT are not surprised that people are turning to the Net, with its instantly and succinctly published information offering everything from contact numbers of consulates to details of how to get a portable toilet. ``The Internet is being used more and more by the families of victims because it is faster and the communication is much more effective,'' said Ankit Gupta, one of SEA-EAT's volunteers based in New Delhi. ``One always comes across red tape no matter what in our third world countries.''

Ms. Di Maio said governments and aid agencies could use the web far more. ``The Internet, reasonably reliable and fast, is not used by authorities nor rescue services to communicate, despite the fact that it has been up without interruption during the entire crisis. Governments and authorities should use the Internet as we do. Costs would be lower and results much better coordinated.''

Powerful tool

Another online volunteer, Bala Pitchandi, stayed up until midnight at his home in New Jersey in the U.S. helping to publish information on SEA-EAT. ``Blogging is such a powerful tool since it can be used by ordinary people like me to publish views and news,'' he said. ``Dozens of volunteers who have never met have gotten together to start this blog and many of the contributors are there at the scene of tragedy to help the world know what's really going on. Traditional news outlets have to be 'politically correct', but blogs are honest and true to the word.''

Weblogs are also being used to direct aid. Sanjay, a blogger and TV producer from Sri Lanka, sent text messages to his friends as he helped with the aid effort. They posted his observations online. ``One thing I discovered in speaking to the displaced people there who are living in the temples and churches and schools is that they need clothes as much as food and water,'' he wrote. ``I guess this is something a lot of us tend to overlook. And there is a severe shortage of undergarments. Not a joke. Specially for the women. I guess no one thinks of it as a need but a lot of people are finding it very, very difficult.''

With overloaded official helplines often ringing unanswered, many have discovered via text message that their holidaying relatives are safe. Those caught up in the chaos or worried about relatives overseas have also used conventional media outlets, which have proved adept at relaying personal messages across the world.

Other worried families have scoured online versions of newspapers in Thailand and Sri Lanka to find news of relatives. The Phuket international hospital has set up its own web pages with photographs of unclaimed children.

On broadcast channels

For the first time, Sky set up a ticker on its news channel to relay messages from survivors to relatives in Britain. Its website has also been inundated with messages and appeals for information from families. ``People want to know as soon as possible,'' said a Sky spokeswoman. ``Sky and other news channels' job is to move information quickly.''

The BBC, too, has moved beyond its traditional role of broadcasting news for passive consumption. Traffic has soared at the BBC News website, which has acted as a giant message board for victims and worried relatives. It received 3,000 e-mails yesterday. ``People are using the BBC because it is a brand that is recognised and trusted across the world,'' a spokesman said. ``People are emailing in to get information about friends and family; people are emailing from Asia to let family in other parts of the world know they are safe and OK; there are people sharing stories and there are people asking for help.''

Emotional ways

As deaths were confirmed, the BBC's site was also being used in a more emotional way. Relatives of victims posted public tributes to their loved ones. ``My beautiful sister Lisa died when the tsunami hit the tiny Koh Phra Thong island in Thailand,'' wrote Chris Jones from Windsor.

``She was a conservationist, and had dedicated her short life to helping wildlife and the environment. She was 31. Her brother Mark and I and our family are absolutely dumbstruck. She will leave a massive hole in the lives of everyone who knew and loved her. We miss her terribly already. The world was a better place with her in it.''

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