News from Port-au-Prince
It’s been a week since the Port-au-Prince earthquake and images streaming in are helping us to grasp the region’s boundless misery and desperation. Hundreds of thousands have perished, and despite our best efforts, more will die and suffer for myriad reasons including the inability to deliver relief where it’s needed.
Despite the gut-wrenching news, it’s heartening to learn that determined, inventive people are finding ways to alleviate the suffering and, in some cases, save lives.
One of the more interesting stories is about an open-source project called Ushahidi which takes its name from the Swahili word for “testimony”. The software, developed during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, enables text messages to be mapped by time and location. Anyone with an internet connection, regardless of the device they use to access it, can send a text message, an image or an email. Ushahidi can also store data offline for later synchronization.
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