When a tweet becomes a lifeline

The lifesaving power of social media was dramatically underscored in the wake of the Haitian earthquake. And it's a lesson that first responders and the federal government should pay attention to as they study this natural disaster and its implications for future rescue work.

An astonishing emergency response network was built from scratch after Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake that likely took the lives of more than 150,000 people. It started when a 24-year-old Washington, D.C., resident sent out a tweet that he was looking to establish contact with people on the ground in Haiti and set up a gateway where people could get information.

He made a connection in Haiti and social media was the link that helped save lives. It was linked with U.S. Google and other companies, and the emergency network was up and running on Jan. 16.

The network began receiving emergency tweets from people on the ground, which helped direct rescuers to the injured. The Office of Innovation at the State Department got involved, too, helping to locate callers with GPS. When a person now texts 4636, his or her message and location are passed along to the Red Cross and the U.S. Coast Guard.

This tiny kernel of an idea that began saving lives came without a lot of government fanfare, a lengthy evaluation process or expensive consultants to make it happen. It is an idea that should be nurtured and developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others that has a direct role in saving lives in an emergency.

For more on Twitter and Haiti:
- see this AolNews.com article

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