In a series of posts, we shall trace and examine the increasing role and impact of ICTs in the area of disaster management.

Nobel Laureate R.K. Pachauri, while addressing the 5^th convocation of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT) in January 2009, highlighted the need for ICTs in dealing with natural disasters and other weather-related events that pose a threat to human life and property.

[…] Climate science has advanced at a phenomenal rate largely because powerful computers can now run very complex models that simulate climatic conditions on land as well as the oceans. Our assessment of future changes in the climate as a result both of natural as well as human factors is dependent largely on the power of models that are being used today and our ability to assess the impacts of climate change in different parts of the world. In response to future projections of these events, governments, civil society and even business organizations can take effective measures to adapt to changes that would occur.

Citing an example from 2003, Dr. Pachauri said:

“I would like to give the example of a major heat wave that took place in parts of Andhra Pradesh in 2003, as a result of which almost 4000 people lost their lives according to official records. […]

“When studying this major problem, it became apparent that ICT infrastructure could have saved perhaps all the lives that were lost if it had been put in place properly and utilized effectively. There was, for instance, no early warning provided to the victims of the heat wave. Nor was there any follow up in terms of providing medical advice to those who suffered from heat stress, such as the need for oral rehydration therapy and simple healthcare for those who were affected. Even television channels could have been used to spread proper awareness and information to protect the lives of those who were affected were not used.

“There are several examples of coastal disasters where people affected can be warned on a timely basis and evacuated before the disaster itself takes place. When a hurricane hits the coast of Florida, the infrastructure available is used to provide adequate warning and notice to those likely to be affected, and entire townships are evacuated. When a cyclone of even lower intensity hits the coasts of Bangladesh or Orissa, major damage takes place, because not only is there lack of shelters and infrastructure to house those who are affected, but there are inadequate systems for early warning and guidance.

“Today even mobile telephones could be used as an effective medium to provide early warning and thus save lives and property”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the Telecom World 2009 in Geneva, also highlighted the role of ICTs in addressing key issues, including natural disaster reduction.

“Through good climate science and information sharing, ICTs can help reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters… when an earthquake hits, a coordinated ICT system can monitor developments, send out emergency messages and help people to cope.”

The UN Secretary-General’s statement echoes the paradigm shift in Disaster Management mentioned in the 2005 presentation by Sujit Mohanty, namely:

• From relief and recovery to Risk & Vulnerability management
• Introducing culture of preparedness at all levels
• Strengthen decentralized response capacity in the country
• Empowerment of vulnerable groups and ensuring livelihoods
• Learning from past disasters.

In the aftermaths of large-scale natural calamities such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the world was forced to wake up to the need for coordinated and collaborative harnessing of the power of ICT systems in managing natural disasters.

Paul Currion in humanitarian.info stated that:

“In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there has been an astonishing amount of activity in web-based initiatives responding to the consequences of the disaster. Examining the characteristics of the response of the technology community to Hurricane Katrina tells us much about the way the web has shaped social responses to disaster, raises some interesting issues about the impact of ICT in disaster response, and points towards what might happen in future.[…]

“It was clear following the Indian Ocean tsunami that the information revolution was in the process of changing the way in which we respond to disasters. This was demonstrated by the rise of web-based fund-raising; Christian Aid raised over $700,000 online in nine days, amounting to nearly four times as much as it raised through donations over the phone. The spread of broadband, improvements in satellite telecommunications and the availability of imagery has made possible GIS and cartographic projects that would not have been possible five years ago. The rise of the open source movement has led to initiatives such as the Sahana project, an attempt to develop a suite of web-enabled applications for disaster response organisations.

Currion goes on to talk about the “first responders of the wired world”, netizens who spring to action to fill in information gaps that the governments of the respective countries and even the traditional media often struggle to fill. However, given the high influx of information post-Katrina, it was soon apparent that multiple data streams would be more effective if they were collated, consolidated and served from a more centralized platform. Thus we saw initiatives such as the Katrina PeopleFinder Project and the Katrina Help Wiki come into play.

In this context, it would not be unfair to say that the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami (SEA-EAT) blog, set up during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, was a trendsetter of sorts–the first project of its kind that demonstrated the power of engaging ordinary people effectively to channel information in order to bridge the gap between those who needed help and those who had help to offer. According to Dina Mehta, one of the key people behind the SEA-EAT blog,

“I think what we managed to do was demonstrate perhaps the largest ‘people's' coordinated effort on the web during disasters, that it was possible and that too without any formal organizational structure. There’s also something in the ability for these efforts to bring in ordinary citizens from all walks of life - people who aren’t necessarily dedicated or working in this space - most of us have different professions and regular jobs too - but just a human need to help.”

While the SEA-EAT blog focused on “keeping the information flowing”, the Sahana FOSS Disaster Management System in Sri Lanka functioned as a more structured, holistic system that helped manage the large scale of the disaster of 2004. The project was deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO) which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). Generalized later for global use, Sahana has now grown to become a globally recognized project with deployments in many other disasters such as the South Asian earthquake in Pakistan (2005), Southern Leyte Mudslide Disaster in Phillipines (2006), the Jogjarkata Earthquake in Indonesia (2006), the Peru Earthquake (2007), the Myanmar Cyclone (2008), etc.

In 2005, Michael Gurstein of the New Jersey Institute of Technology wrote his reflections on the web-based initiatives and what he perceived as the need gaps in these situations:

“Scanning the Net for information and for stories I was struck by a couple of things concerning the role (and lack of role) of the Net in these events. The Net appeared to be playing a very significant part in responding to the needs of those at a distance–the on-lookers for information, stories, ways of contributing and so on; families and friends of those possibly impacted with attempts at creating listings of the found and the lost and for those on the ground to manage the concerns and queries of those farther away; and one expects that behind the scenes much of the co-ordination and planning that is being done by aid organizations is being done in ways that are pushing the boundaries of Computer Mediated Communication and managing at a distance.

“But I guess I'm a bit surprised that the Net wasn't able (yet?) to bridge the information divides between those who had some idea about what might be coming (the scientists and those immediately impacted) and those who might have been able to make some use of that information in the places where the impact took appreciable time to be realized.

“The problem here was not, I think a “the Digital Divide” that is, it wasn’t because of a lack of “access” to information, although apparently that too was a problem overall; rather, it seemed to me to be another example of what I've referred to elsewhere as the gap between “access” and “effective use”…From what I can gather many if not most of the communities impacted had Internet “access” in one form or another. What they (and here I would include those with the knowledge who couldn't use it as well as those without knowledge) lacked rather, was the social infrastructure which could have turned Internet access into an “effectively usable” early warning system.

“Some had the information—the scientists who detected the earthquake and could understand how that could result in a Tsunami and those who felt the early impact either of the earthquake or the Tsunami—but couldn't use it. Others needed the information—the coastal villages around the Indian Ocean—but couldn't or weren’t able to “get it” at least in a timely and usable form. The “degrees of separation” imposed by nationality, language and perhaps most important, domains of knowledge and profession (and the related lack of social linkages, network based trust relationships, communication pathways and so on) impeded the communication between the two groups and one wonders whether this was simply a matter of it still being early days in our Internetted world or something more profound and permanent. (Michael Gurstein, The Journal of Community Informatics, (2005) Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp. 14-17)”

Observing the loss of lives in typhoon Ketsana that hit Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia in October 2009, Paul Conneally posted the following on his blog Head Down, Eyes Open:

“In many poverty stricken areas there is no access to TV or radio (or Internet for that matter) to help communicate warning messages. Aid agencies must work with communities to find out which methods of communication work for them at the time of an emergency and run simulation exercises to put this into practice. Often mobile phone text messages or even sending people out into the streets with megaphones, as was the case in these emergencies, prove to be most successful.

“[…]Early warning, early action in high disaster risk countries needs to be seen as a mindset, not a mechanism or technology, and works best when it spans timescales, anticipating disaster by days, hours, months, years and even decades. It must also be firmly linked to early action by decision-makers, and must cover ‘the last mile' -linking early warning mechanisms not just to the most ‘at risk' communities, but to the most vulnerable people within those communities.

“Strengthening community capacity to prevent and/or cope with the impact of disasters and crises is a concrete way to save lives and better protect livelihoods, and prevent such shocks from crippling development within the poorest countries. Early warning and early action is also more cost effective than traditional disaster response and saves more lives per pound spent: public money buys four times as much humanitarian ‘impact' if spent on preparation and risk reduction, rather than on relief items.”

In India, the 2004 tsunami was a clarion call for the government, NGOs and the civil society to effect a paradigm shift and realise that preparedness was the key to minimising the impact of natural disasters.

To enable better planning and preparedness, the India Disaster Resource Network [idrn.gov.in] was set up as a National initiative under the Govt. of India-UNDP DRM programme in collaboration with National Informatics Center, Government of India. The task of this Network was to create an online database for capturing the countrywide inventory of equipment and skilled human resources available for emergency response. The role of this ambitious, yet comprehensive database would be to help minimize emergency response time through effective decision-making on mobilization of human & material resources. The project was to ensure systematic data collection & collation from government line departments, public sector units, the corporate sector, etc at the district level. Other initiatives launched were:

• The Disaster Inventory Database (implemented in Orissa) that would allow vulnerability analysis through longitudinal study of geo-referenced inventories of local level data of past disasters (small, medium and large-scale).
• Community Contingency plans based on GIS technology that enable the visual presentation of critical data by location that can be used for coordination and implementation of relief efforts
• Development of communications infrastructure to ensure 100% coverage of disaster prone areas through satellite and ISDN linkages
• Community based ICT systems and
• Disaster/ incident surveillance system that will allow for quick, smooth, seamless data capturing and disseminating facilities.

Here is an example of implementation of this strategy/philosophy of preparedness by an NGO in Tamil Nadu following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004:

In the next post in the series, we shall explore disaster warning systems and the various ICT-based tools and applications that have been, are being, and can be put to use as an early warning system to help reduce and or mitigate the severe damage to life and property in the wake of natural disasters across the globe.

Register your blog to add your voice!

This is the Global Voices entry.

Over the next couple of months Global Voices is going to be following environmental and climate change issues extra closely. We're hoping to amplify unheard voices in the debate around the United Nations meetings in Copenhagen in December (COP15).

In November, on Conversations for a Better World, a blog sponsored by the UNFPA, two of our authors, Eduardo and Belen, are going to be cross-posting stories about population dynamics and climate change. I know they'll be looking towards Latin America.

Throughout October, Global Voices bloggers have been mentoring 31 young men and women from Africa and Denmark who are organizing an online campaign under the auspices of MS ActionAid in Copenhagen, Denmark. They've asked us to relay stories about ‘what developing countries need to help correct damage from climate change'. So we'll try to do that too.

Some mentor entries

For Blog Action Day, Jillian encouraged her readers to visit the blog of her mentee Edith, while Ali says his mentee Peter turned the tables on him and inspired him to write a post on climate change.

Another mentor, Gayle, has written a longer post highlighting the situations of farmers in Ghana, Australia (her own countries) and Zimbabwe (her mentee John's country).

Gayle used Twitter to put the call out for farmers in Australia. To her surprise, she was re-tweeted by ABC Radio in Australia, and came directly in touch with several farmers by email. She read interviews with Ghanaian farmers online, and even spoke to one directly.

And among dozens of links and interesting sources, Gayle found information on how local communities use traditional knowledge in rural Ghana to cope with climate change.

Gayle did something that bloggers on Global Voices do all the time. She went looking for voices you rarely hear speaking for themselves in international mainstream media.

In the past week on Global Voices

Bhumika Ghimire wrote a post today about the future of bio-gas in Nepal, including a video by a Japanese university research team that shows how bio-gas is used in rural Nepal.

A landslide caused by Typhoon Ketsana in a village in Pampanga province. Photo by Flickr user susancorpuz90

Earlier this week, Mong Palatino wrote about how Filipino bloggers are drawing connections between climate change and the devastating floods in Manila that killed more than 500 people.

Saffah Farooq wrote about how citizens of the low-lying Indian Ocean island state of the Maldives, feel their fate may be decided by the success of treaties like the Kyoto Protocol.

Wildlife blogger Samuel Maina in Kenya, wrote about how Kenyans are so desperate for rain they are awaiting El Niño rains that may displace thousands with mixed feelings.

There is a constant flow of stories on Global Voices' environment topic feed by bloggers all around the world.

Looking ahead

On this Blog Action Day, where we celebrate the collective power of bloggers to push for change, we'd like to encourage everyone not only to write about climate change but also to read what other people are saying.

Over the next many weeks, we're going to be overwhelmed by news stories by journalists quoting politicians, activists, and many others - but when the UN meetings are over and the cameras are off, the people who face the consequences of climate change immediately, will still be telling their stories on the internet in hopes of reaching people who care.

As we say at Global Voices, ‘The world is talking. Are you listening?'

For those far removed from the front lines of climate change, listening and linking is one the few ways we can succeed to make the problem feel real and in need of solutions today.

Related posts

• Blog Action Day 2009: Rising Voices Projects Discuss Climate Change
• Posts in Portuguese on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Greek Posts on Blog Action Day ‘09
• Africa discusses climate change
• Caribbean: Blogging About Climate Change
• Israel: Blog Action Day for the Environment
• Morocco: Blogoma participates in Blog Action Day
• Ghana: Blog Action Day ‘09
• Global Health: Can Condoms Combat Climate Change?

Indonesian bloggers are reacting to the latest earthquake disaster which killed at least 1,000 people in the country. Trimaxs learned that a friend’s family lost their homes in Padang

I hear the sadness in my best friend’s voice when she called me and said that all her families lost their homes. But thankfully, everyone is safe and alive.

Hardship Posting writes that “earthquake season is upon us.”

Earthquake season is upon us, three earthquakes in two days in Sumatra with sceptics starting to say that a “biggie” is on it's way! Meanwhile in Sulawesi two earthquakes struck yesterday.

In Padang, there are already chronic shortages of surgeons, medicine and electricity which are affecting the operations of hospitals. At least nine government buildings were also destroyed

The National Disaster Management Agency reported on its Web site that at least nine government offices, including the City Hall, Provincial Legislative Council and the Central Bank, in Padang were heavily damaged along with school buildings, shopping centers, markets, office buildings, hotels and a mosque.

Visionerial probes the link between the Indonesian and Samoan earthquakes:

American Samoa and Indonesia, the victims of two earthquakes in 24 hours, both lie on the so-called Ring of Fire…So why might the Samoan and Indonesian quakes be linked? The epicentres of these earthquakes both lie near to the edge of the Australian plate, about 4,000 miles apart. It seems plausible that one movement of the Australian plate caused both earthquakes.

…there has been an upsurge in seismic activity in the Indonesian faultline since the 2004 Asian tsunami - and recent earthquakes in that region have only added to the likelihood of further disasters.

Music of My Life is relieved to learn that an uncle who is living in Sumatera is safe

My family feels very grateful that my uncle who is currently located in Southern Sumatera has survived this terrible incident. But many, many others weren't that lucky.

It's really heartbreaking to see the news right now. There are a lot of people still trapped in the ruins, including educational buildings. Many parents are still seeking for their children in the hope to find them alive…

Earthquake in Padang. From Twitter user Marcellodecaran

What's New Jakarta? asserts that the number of casualties could have been reduced if there is a stringent building code in Indonesia:

There is no doubt that a significant proportion of deaths and injuries from earthquakes in Indonesia could be avoided if building codes were more stringent. In light of this unfolding tragedy, and past earthquakes such as in Yogyakarta and given the likelihood of earthquakes continuing to occur in Indonesia in the future, we do believe that stronger building regulations need to be enforced, especially in the construction of public buildings, office towers, shopping malls, hotels etc. Developers who construct buildings which are sub-standard and which cause injury or death during earthquakes, should be held accountable by law

Spruiked identifies the people and agencies which should be blamed for the high earthquake death toll

There's this “thing” in the TwIndoVerse going around right now. Don't point the finger. Stop blaming people for the disaster in Padang. I have a problem with that because there are clearly a LOT of people to blame:

* the local and central governments who have ignored the experts' warnings about the earthquake risk since 2004

* the developers and builders for the shoddy structures they built, collapsing like a souffle

* the people of Indonesia, if we let this happen again.

Contrary to public belief, people do not have to die in an earthquake. We let them die. If we do not make this pathetic excuse of a government take responsibility for their corruption and ineptitude, then when the next one hits — and it will — we only have ourselves to blame.

Twitter reactions to the earthquake disaster:

dnessya: GARAGE SALE:RAISE FUND for EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS. All Personal Sales will go to aid the victims.PLEASE JOIN
wawanz: Last night mom confirmed that our relatives in Padang are ok.. Phewww..
patriciadominic: The rescue team refuses to help those of Chinese background in Padang unless they pay up. Racism at it’s best
ShafiqPontoh: RT @gusgoose: Needed in Padang post-quake: small- to mid-size water filter. Preferrably non-electric. Anyone can donate this?
Kebo: RIP, ɑ victim from Padang's earthquake, ɑ beloved and loving friend, Arif Cundikiawan. Rest in Peace bro, you'll be in our hearts forever.
charlline: Watching tv one while crying hear the victims of padang earthquake
noranbakrie: have collecting news since this morning about my jambi relatives, they are all okay, post-earthquake. phew. thank you god.
methanoor: earthquake 7.6sR in my home 2 days ago.. huvb huvb,, i hope all of my friend and my family safe, , ,

“Ketsana” destroyed more than 300,000 homes, schools and other structures in Vietnam:

Since the ferocious storm struck the central coast on Tuesday, it has killed at least 92 people, left 19 missing, and injured 199, according to the latest statistics from the national flood and storm control committee.

Floodwaters from the torrential rain accompanying the ninth storm from the East Sea this year have submerged or destroyed nearly 337,000 homes, schools and other man-made structures.

It also forced the evacuation of more than 350,000 people:

The storm destroyed or damaged nearly 170,000 homes and flattened crops in six Vietnamese provinces, officials said, while more than 350,000 people were evacuated from the typhoon's path.

Residents describe “Ketsana” as “the most serious typhoon that’s hit here in four or five years.” They also fear that the “floods could reach the historic highs of 1964.”

Twitter reactions in Vietman about the storm:

jjlechau: Despite Typhoon Ketsana hitting central Vietnam, the southern part remains eerily calm. Just cloudy and a little windy.
quangdieu911: Storm devastating Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, do something good for they, please… South Vietnam is raining allnight, can't go anywhere in SG.
EmilyPham: The storm that brought heavy flooding to the Philippines, now ugraded to a typhoon, has battered Vietnam.
sereneyee: @mykelism Ketsana hasn't been to visit on this end yet. For now, it is state emergency at the central provinces of the country.

Flooding in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Photo from blog of Cambodia Calling

“Ketsana” also pummeled Cambodia which led to the flooding in many areas. Cambodia Calling notes that this is the first time that floods have been so bad in Siem Reap:

…it is the first time the floods have been so bad in Siem Reap.

The floods near the Siem Reap International School were bad and Thyda had to get off her motocycle and push it for 500m. Water got into the engine and it wouldn't start. She said the cars drove fast because drivers did not want to get stuck in the waters. When that happened, the ripples made it harder to push her motocycle.

Andy Brouwer mentions other flooded areas:

Overnight rain in Siem Reap has left the old market area under water including pub street and other areas including Wat Bo road and the roads in front of Hotel De La Paix, Amansara and La Residence Hotels. National Road 6 out towards the airport is also under water. In Angkor, the roads around Prasat Kravann and Banteay Kdei are flooded and the level of the water in the moat surrounding Angkor Wat is at its peak. At the moment Phnom Penh hasn't really been affected.

Church World Service lists the urgent supplies needed by Cambodians in evacuation centers:

Church World Service Cambodia reports that in one province, Kompong Thom, 223 villages–some 14,744 families–have been flooded out.

CWS Cambodia has conducted assessments and reports first priority needs in affected regions include food, shelter (plastic sheeting to protect family from the rain and heat), clean water, mosquito netting, and water and sanitation unit

(To view pictures of the damage caused by “Ketsana” in Vietnam and Cambodia, visit Vietnam Net Bridge and KI Media)

The southern part of Laos was damaged by “Ketsana.” There is widespread flooding in Xekong and Attapeu provinces. Authorities also reported that 50 hectares of agricultural land is flooded.

Accoridng to KPL Lao News Agency:

Road No.16 , bridges, villages, communication and electricity systems were cut and flooded immediately by the overflow of the Sekong River in Sekong Province since Wednesday’s morning.

At the same time, the water level of the Sedon River, under the influence of the storm, further swelled and submerged rice fields and some villages in two districts of Khongsedon and Vapy, Saravane province.

Thailand was not directly affected by “Ketsana” but the typhoon brought some rains in Bangkok. The Bangkok Bugle writes:

It's a wet and gloomy morning in Bangkok as the remnants of Typhoon Ketsana pass over the city.

There's been consistent, but not heavy, rain since around 8pm last night. The small canal in my soi (street) is high but not close to flooding, and my journey to the office this morning was uneventful. There was a noticeable wind in the city yesterday and this morning I'd estimate it is several degrees cooler than normal right now.

Ketsana is a Lao name, and referred to a tree that resembles agarwood.

To read more about the flood situation in the Philippines, Global Voices offers these articles: Flooding documented on citizen videos, Worst flooding in 40 years, 2.5 million people affected by flooding.

Flooded village in the Philippines. Photo courtesy of Migrante

The Power of Twitter

The role of social media in aiding flood rescue teams in the Philippines has been cited here in Global Voices. A specific case can further clarify the important role of microblogging sites like Twitter and Plurk in times of disaster.

A Twitter user asks for volunteers to deliver supplies to a relief center:

RT @tjmanotoc: 300 hard boiled eggs & 20 loaves of bread in Rockwell, Makati need help in delivery 2 Katipunan/Aurora drop-off point tonight

A few minutes later, the tweet received positive replies:

RT @tjmanotoc: Thanks for the RTs and offers. We have a volunteer na to deliver the eggs. :) once again, I love you Twitter

Several parts of Metro Manila are still flooded

Nearly 24 hours since the earthquake took place, the city is still experiencing blackout and bad cellphone reception:

andrepramana @luckytriakbar belum dapet kabar luk..padang gelap gulita..jringan hp masi eror

Many Twitter users like nenglita, is depending on their tweets to find missing relatives:

nenglita: Tlg carikan sepupu saya, Muhammad Septian Pradana,15th & Muhammad Yuniardi,13th. Almt Jl Cendana mata air no2 padang. Please<

President Yudhoyono and 6 state ministers are now in Padang to assess the situation and coordinate the emergency relief effort:

dedimasputra: Indonesia was hit by earthqueke again.The presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated for emergency circumstace for 2 months in West Sumatra

The Minangkabau Airport was reopened around noon local time on Thursday. However, due to massive inbound flights, ticket price sky-rocketed, reaching 3 million IDR (about 311 USD) for an economy class seat.

dinanyadonald: @sitita bandara padang udah dibuka ta,tapi sepertinya ticket jadi susah..kk sepupu g udah jalan kesana td pagi

Reponding to this situation, an official of the Ministry of Transportations told [id]  local newsportal Detik that the government has requested the commercial and chartered airlines to set a normal charges on humanitarian ground which doesn't exceed standard price of 960,000 IDR (about 100 USD).

Transporting aid and volunteers to a disaster impacted area is a big challenge for archipelagic countries like Indonesia and its neighbor country the Philippines.

Thousands of Indonesian troops are deployed to search the missing victims.

Twitterers unite in gathering  specialized volunteers to be deployed to Padang:

@chairanijk : Tweeps, Jika berminat menjadi relawan di Padang, hub saya ya, bsk brgkt jam 8 pagi. Di utamakan dokter dan paramedis thx.

RisyadRusdi : Ada yg mau jd relawan ke padang? Yg berminat hub gw, bsk pagi jam 8 naik pesawat carteran pak JK dr halim. makasih. http://myloc.me/QKHT

According to Palang Merah Indonesia's (PMI- Indonesian Red Cross) report appearing on Facebook, 529 people were found dead and 80% of houses and public infrastructure are damaged, and that more tents are still needed for quake victims.

Two more quakes felt on Thursday

On the same report, the PMI also said that another 7.0 Richter scale jolt that struck Jambi province on Thursday morning.

The Jambi volcanic quake damaged some 500 houses in 4 villages. 1 death reported and injuries.

Another rattle measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale was felt in North Sulawesi's capital in Manado around 8 AM Thursday. The undersea quake epicenter is in Tahuna Sea on the eastern part of Indonesia.

Until Thursday evening, extensive reports on Jambi and North Sulawesi are still scarce.

Photo from blog of Francesca in France

The number of flood casualties continues to rise in the Philippines: Almost 300 dead bodies. More than half a million individuals living in evacuation centers. And at least 2.5 million Filipinos affected by the flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy which hit Metro Manila and nearby provinces last Saturday.

The latest disaster update from the government:

As of October 1, 2009, a total of 512,092 families or 2.5 million persons have been affected by Typhoon Ondoy. About 135,471 families or 686,000 persons are now staying in 726 evacuation centers. The total number of casualties is 324: 277 dead, 5 injured, 42 missing.

4,644 houses were damaged. There are 266 school buildings used as evacuation centers.

This video summarizes the deadly impact of Typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila and nearby provinces

Bloggers are sharing their stories on how they survived Typhoon Ondoy. From SingleShutter.com:

What happened to our house was just unimaginable. It has never flooded in our subdivision, but today was a disaster. Started to flood in the street at 4pm. Soon water was coming out of the drains and the toilet! So the maid started moving the electronics to the 2nd floor. The computers, the camera equipment, the LCD TV, she caried them all by herself. The water continued to rise so she and our dog Yoshi went to the neighbor's house. They crossed the road while the water was chest deep. Yoshi was crying as they were crossing the street/river swimming.

Marikina Travel Buddy writes that many city hall employees of Marikina City were trapped in the government building

I passed by Marikina City Hall and it wasn’t spared from nature’s wrath. I remembered my friend who works at the City Hall texted me earlier saying that they are trapped at the second floor. Flood waters have occupied half of the first floor. A lot of important documents were affected and even the computers and servers that the City Hall was using are now under water.

Whiteboard mentions that cars were dragged away during the storm:

So there I was, no tv, no computer, my phone’s battery low signal blinking every 2 seconds. I learned from people who live nearby that villages in Marikina and Cainta are already under several feet of water. People were already on their rooftops waiting to be rescued. A relative who lives in Greenland said that they just parked the car a few minutes as they fetched their children in their home, a few minutes later they realized that the car has been dragged by the heavy water current and they had no idea where it went.

Anna was having lunch when floodwaters began to rise:

In Parañaque, half our village was submerged in murky water. In only a few minutes, water was already waist deep outside our gate! The water rose faster than we had imagined that we had to abruptly stop in the middle of our lunch to start lifting furniture and other equipments to higher spots. Thankfully, both our houses were spared with the flood only reaching our garage and stopping a mere three inches below our front door.

This video shows that even a popular shopping mall was flooded last weekend:

Like many flood victims, Pinoy Buzz is now focused on removing the mud and cleaning the house

Since Monday, my wife, her siblings, and a couple of friends have been hauling mud out of the house. Along with the mud, we had to haul out all of the books that had been turned into pulp, shoes that are now unuseable, electric gadgets filled with mud, and a host of other things which are now unrecognizable.

Dennis Villegas criticizes the slow response of government agencies to distress calls:

Typhoon Ondoy is a disaster that exposed many hidden weaknesses in the government's preparedness for a calamity of this magnitude. Hundreds of people were trapped on the roofs of their homes as the flood heightened to drown them. They hoped in their heart of hearts that a rescue team will somehow emerge from the total darkness and bring them safely to a safe ground. But no one came. While people sent messages of help in their soaked and dying cellphones pleading for help, the Arroyo government went on closed-door meetings and media interviews, where a single second may have been significant in saving lives…In this kind of disaster, every second lost and may mean lost lives.

Hundreds of people were trapped, but very few rubber boats arrived for rescue. Many died, and those who survived had to be sobered by the fact that a few more hours of rain would have certainly killed them, had not the rain somehow diminished in the night. They had to wait in the morning to be rescued, spending the night cold, wet, hungry—but alive.

This video shows a flooded Manila underpass:

Twitter users continue to inform rescuers about the assistance required by flood victims

elvinuy: Santolan Pasig littered w/ debris, #Ondoy rescue vehicles unable to pass, MMDA pls help clear roads.
Bigenya: RT @bratinella: Help for Theresa Teano and family - 30 sampaguita st town and country exec. village, antipolo rizal.
elvinuy: RT @cheng_carreon: Pls help. Firetrucks needed in Provident to help hose houses. If u know any fire stations that can help, pls reply

And various perspectives on the recent storm and flood tragedies are pouring in:

momtintinbabao: RT @imnickmendoza: we can be more pro-active this time.let's gather ideas about proper waste disposal so we can prevent flooding again..
miriamq: When adversity comes knocking on the door or calamities occur, some people immediately think they have done something wrong..
WomenVote_2010: Residents of Tumana, Marikina using the garbage left by #Ondoy to make money by selling them in junk shops.

Reflection of a flood victim survivor:

Times like this, one may say that “I lost everything.” In our case, WE REGAINED SOMETHING.

We regained the love and respect for and from each member of our family. We regained moments with each other, which we have frequently taken for granted…And because they are now living with us, we are now together as one family every single day, instead of twice or thrice a week. We’re even sharing wi-fi access at home and accessing FB all at the same time.

My Ate says her biggest realization is that she didn’t possess anything. Except for some valuables, she’s almost ready to get rid of everything in their house

Picture from Twitpic user reahguevarra

Several parts of Metro Manila and nearby provinces are still flooded today even if Tropical Storm ‘Ondoy’ (International name: Ketsana) has already left the country. Almost 200 were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced when the storm hit the country’s capital last Saturday.

The heavy rainfall triggered the worst flooding in the country in recent memory. The storm even dumped more rains than Hurricane Katrina:

RT @wizkitabet: FACT: Hurricane Katrina rainfall =380mm in Louisiana. Typhoon Ondoy rainfall = 410mm in Manila, Philippines.

Social media sites were maximized to inform rescuers about the location of flood victims. Typhoon Ondoy Situation Map was created to compile information about the needs of the flood victims. Google has created a special page to gather donations. Ondoy Relief Efforts has a comprehensive list of contact details of relief agencies, donation drop-off centers, and government emergency response teams.

Picture by Ali Figueroa

Citizen videos were uploaded on cyberspace which captured horrible scenes of loss brought by the flooding. Below is a video by Youtube user didipusrex

My mother was able to take a video clip of the floodwaters of Typhoon Ondoy before the water surge forced them to flee to the second floor. They were trapped in chest deep water on the second floor until the waters subsided the next morning.

This video shows a passenger who was trapped in a car while a strong floodwater was rampaging outside a Manila hospital

Marikina City, located east of Manila, was heavily devastated by the floods

Pedestrians and even motorists in Paranaque City, south of Manila, use styrofoam to cross a flooded street

Cars are swept away by strong flood currents

Bulacan province, north of Manila, was also severely affected by the storm

Techpinas praises a radio station for devoting its program to update listeners about the storm. Many of its listeners were flood victims who relied on their cell phone radio for relief updates:

In the midst of uncertainty and suffering brought about by Ondoy and the lack of electricity in most parts of Mega Manila, DJ Gang, DJ Lambert and DJ Steph selflessly gave their time and effort into making sure that cellphone owners - especially those stuck in disaster stricken areas, whose only access to news was their dying cellphones' FM radio app - were kept updated on the status of relief operations and were somehow kept alive by Jam 88.3's display of resilient and pro-active hope. They practically turned the usually indifferent FM radio scene into a venue for disaster relief info dissemination and volunteer coordination.

Texting was used to advise flood victims on how to survive

What was truly heartening is the public's involvement in Jam's efforts. There were those who called the station to give updates on the traffic situation across the metro. Doctors texted to give tips to those staying on the roofs of their flood-engulfed houses on how to avoid hypothermia, while a former red cross volunteer shared the procedure on how to prepare an oral rehydration solution

Photo by Celina Ann Natanauan Chan

Twitter is a reliable source of news about the disaster and to monitor rescue efforts. Through Twitter, netizens are able to report the flood situation in remote areas

ageofbrillig: RT: one of our staff went to Payatas yesterday. Dami na daw corpse. No media attention there. And not much aid.
Cocoy: RT @mlq3 @jeyaiy All I know is the situation in Candaba. The whole town is under water, except for the Church. Cannot leave town proper..
jovefrancisco: For most of Saturday, I thought my community was the hardest hit. That was until I saw the images on TV

Tweets advise relief team and police forces on where to deliver the goods

alexderossi: RT @momma_erin REPOST: Rosario Pasig & Cavite area have NOT received any relief goods. If you can, pls do something about it! - salamat po!!
maxenemagalona: GRABE. RT @kitel_anne Policemen needed in Provident Village Marikina. Der r robbers all over the place trying to break inside the houses.

Tweets remind the public about the status of relief efforts

ANDREWdecastro: How are the flood victims supposed to cook those instant noodles? Or open those cans? I'm just saying
philredcross: We are overwhelmed for the support of the youth on our Relief Operation. Interested volunteers may visit PNRC NHQ (near Anda Circle
cocoy: RT @dementia: Oh yeah, please donate ready-to-eat food and water. Victims have no means of cooking noodle

This tweet by a Senator of the Republic shows that the flooding affected both the rich and poor:

SayChiz: My in laws live in sinco hermanos. Only their roof was left above water. They sought shelter at the 2-storey house of a neighbor

Photo by Diane Lorenzana