Harnessing Data to Improve Disaster Response and Recovery

| MSNY Staff

For many in the New York area, Superstorm Sandy brings to mind painful memories of blackouts, neighbors’ homes damaged beyond repair, elderly left without access to care, friends stranded, and long lines at gas stations. But for all of the damage caused, the storm also brought out the best in the community, as neighbors helped neighbors and citizens from across the country did what they could to lend a hand. The technology community, too, responded. Much as they had after Hurricane Katrina, tornadoes in the Midwest, and other disasters, citizen hackers self-organized to develop tech solutions that could alleviate suffering and speed recovery. It was inspiring to many of us in the civic tech community to see people spring into action to help, by crowdsourcing data and collaborating across public and private sectors on tech-driven solutions.

The more we delved into developing tech solutions, the more we heard about similar situations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010. During those disasters, too, technologists volunteered to help. But the excitement of building solutions was quickly replaced by the realization that utilization by first responders and survivors remained low, as many were too overwhelmed with immediate needs to locate or learn how to use new tech tools, no matter how helpful they promised to be. And then, as the frantic response period drew to a close, many of these newly-developed applications and products began to gather dust.

There must be a better way. Microsoft believes that technology can empower citizens to become constructive partners in disaster response and recovery, and the Technology & Civic Innovation team is committed to working with partners from every sector of society to achieve that vision. Governments and first responders have begun to embrace new tools, and as information and communication technologies become more widespread among citizens, so too are they becoming a larger part of our disaster response toolkits. In the words of Michael Beckerman, President and CEO of The Internet Association, governments have “thrown the old response playbook out the window” in favor of a more innovative approach.

Driving this change, technology companies have contributed expertise and products to make this new approach feasible and robust. Microsoft has helped through its Corporate Citizenship project, which in Haiti worked to restore internet access and build an online communications portal for first responders. Others have contributed too, including Google and Palantir through their Crisis Response and Philanthropy Engineering initiatives, respectively.

These laudable efforts are just the tip of the iceberg. The road ahead demands a formalized and systematized process that can allow information to travel between citizens and their governments more efficiently and reliably than is currently possible. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Energy have taken the first steps through a Tech Corps Program and “Lantern,” an app that provides citizens with helpful updates and information. Open data initiatives at the federal and local levels allow civic hackers to build solutions fueled by available data resources. More can be done, particularly as third-parties are further empowered to build even more interoperable solutions.

New tools and innovative initiatives are paving the way to a more engaged, connected, and empowered civic movement with which governments can team up for maximum effectiveness in the face of future emergencies and disasters. In the coming years, we must expand and refine our use of digital tools to create the most effective partnerships possible between citizens, businesses, and governments. June marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season and should not only remind us of how far we have come since Superstorm Sandy, but also should inspire us, in preparing for what may lie ahead, to take the next steps to more fully develop the solutions that 21st century technology makes possible.

 

MSNY Staff