Chile: The forgotten earthquake?
We’ve been discussing the use of social media in emergency situations a lot in class. I just stumbled upon this blog post at physorg.com (Thanks to Paisley Schwager’s Twitter Stream) which describes Twitter’s “People Finder” in Chile. Much like the Google Maps used post-Katrina (which was mentioned in my group’s seminar last week), it allows for people to share information about missing people or request news.
However, I have to ask why Chile hasn’t received the same media (social included) attention that Haiti has. The counry was hit with an 8.8 earthquake and scientists feared it would be on par with the South Asia tsunamis from a few years ago. Yet in comparison, I feel as though the media has gone silent and tumbleweeds are slowly rolling by.
Are we “reliefed” out? What is going on? Do you believe social media has the ability to truly help and raise awareness? I’m starting to doubt. Was it because the Olympic hockey finals were the next day? I don’t have any answers.
