How Social Media help to create Communities of Support after #NepalEarthquake

Picture by Quake Map

Shortly after the first earthquake a big cry for help came from a lot of Facebook- and Twitter-Accounts from inside and outside Nepal, like this one from Sindhupalchok Sunkhani VDC. Images published on Social Media showed the devastation much quicker than traditional media. Climbers tweeted about being trapped on Mount Everest, for example Alex Gavan on Twitter: "Everest base camp huge earthquaqe then huge avalanche from pumori.Running for life from my tent. Unhurt. Many many people up the mountain".

In the second phase instant communities of support were created. Nepalis, foreign aid workers and academics and the country’s diaspora started groups like Nepal Earthquake Relief Volunteer Coordination on Facebook. Behind this group was Barbara Grossman, a 30-year-old American who left Nepal two days before the first earthquake. Saroj Karki (23), who had founded a blood donation group Youth for Blood in 2011, transformed his group into the Rapid Response Team (Facebook: Rapid Response Team). His team helped to track down missing people for relatives, who were lookingfor them. While phone-connections had broken down, Social Media like Twitter and Facebook could still be used.

A group called Sankalpa created a relief map: where people are asking for help and who is bringing help where. The company Kathmandu Living Labs started Quake Map. They say: "We do not send relief ourselves. Our reports help others, including the Nepal Army to coordinate and conduct relief efforts". There is also the Map of reported #nepalearthquake deaths, injured, and houses damaged. More Maps here. Read also: Mapping the aftermath and How "Crisis Mapping" is Shaping Disaster Relief in Nepal. And: Nepal earthquake. We have maps.

A week after the first earthquake a Twitter account was set up by the Nepalese Government National Emergency Operation Center, which started to tweet the official number of people who had died and who were injured. The account also announced advice on information such as access to clean water and the relief that was being received from around the world.

"Instant communication through Google, Twitter, and Facebook allowed people in Nepal to help survivors of the earthquake in ways government could not", writes Christian Science Monitor. "With Nepal’s government largely unprepared to respond quickly, the survivors relied on social media to arrange rescues, deliver supplies, and provide shelter."


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Link List: Social Media, ICT and the Nepal Earthquake