Innovation in emergency management is a hot topic. Examples of emergency management agencies harnessing the power of social media to engage citizens during disasters have emerged in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, the tornados in Oklahoma, and Hurricane Sandy, among others.
Using Facebook and Twitter to aid in disaster response has almost become the norm. But they aren’t the only tools government uses. In the interest of looking toward the future, we’ve found examples of emergency management agencies that have been experimenting with other technologies.
Vine
Government agencies have been experimenting with Vine since its debut. Be Ready Utah recently created a video with the hashtag #whatsinyourkit.
The result? In just 6 seconds, we learned what needs to go in an emergency kit.
Tumblr
ReadyAlabama, Alabama’s statewide emergency preparedness campaign, is utilizing Tumblr as their blogging platform.
Why is this so cool? Tumblr makes the content shareable. With one click, readers can repost the information on their own Tumblr blogs.
Geographic Information System (GIS)
The Nashville Emergency Response Viewing Engine (NERVE) is a GIS tool that enables citizens to to see what is happening around them in real time during an emergency situation. The tool can help navigate residents to shelters and other emergency resources by routing them around closed roads and has the ability to show evacuation areas.
We’d like to hear from you – are you prepared for an emergency? Do you have any examples of using social media technology in emergency management?
