Aug
21
Tracking the flood, directing aid
Pakreport.org is using on-the-ground observations and text messaging to track the flooding and help relief workers get to affected areas:
Recent floods in Pakistan have claimed over 1600 lives and displaced over 18 million individuals — about one-tenth of Pakistan’s population. Enabled by a global outpouring of support for the Pakistani people, relief aid and resources have been immediately dispatched to the affected areas. But access to relevant, timely, and up-to-date information about the flood remains elusive in this emergency context. Relying on patchy information to allocate limited resources creates distortions both in emergency relief and in long-term policy planning.
Pakistan Flood Incident Reporting is a centralized database for gathering information on disaster-related variables. PakReport relies on information communicated through SMS, recognizing the wide use of mobile phones throughout Pakistan. With your help, PakReport can ensure the efficient distribution of limited resources through incident reporting. All it takes is a simple text message to 3411 relating your observations of the flood.
