U.S. deploys IT to help Haiti quake victims

The humanitarian relief effort in Haiti is an enormous undertaking, one that is highly dependent on U.S. information technology and telecommunications resources being deployed by the military and other government agencies.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), for example, has provided bandwidth for the aid organizations responding to the devastating earthquake. It also has provided frequency support for air traffic control and freight management at the airport in Port-au-Prince.

DISA said in a press release that the agency is leveraging new technology in Haiti that is already linking relief organizations and other nations and U.S. forces together to track, coordinate and better organize relief efforts.

"Often overlooked and unplanned for in the crush of humanitarian relief efforts are the hundreds of conflicting and overlapping communication frequencies that can initially harm relief missions," the DISA statement reads. DISA deployed experts to form a Joint Spectrum Management Element that's already solving complex command and control challenges to allow relief agencies to communicate without conflicting with each other. 

The Marines have brought sophisticated command and control systems to Haiti on board several amphibious ships. The Air Force has launched an unmanned aerial vehicle to survey the damage, and the hospital ship Comfort that is being deployed has access to an electronic health record system.

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team is also using satellite data to create maps of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas that have pinpointed the damage, building-by-building, caused by the deadly earthquake. This data has been used to guide response teams in their rescue efforts.

In addition, agencies have been using social media to help coordinate aid, and to get information out through Twitter and Facebook.

For more on IT and the earthquake:
- see this press release
- also see this InformationWeek article