RISEPAK (Relief and Information Systems for Earthquakes in Pakistan) was recently launched. The site aims to tackle two of the main obstacles to effective delivery of aid in post-disasters situation: a lack of information and a lack of coordination.
Besides being an excellent example of public-private collaboration (and expediency), the project not only provides town-level demographic information (i.e. number of people, roads and schools) for the effected region prior to the earthquake, it also aims to provide on the ground information of what are the needs of each town – no matter how remote – and what sort of supplies have already reached them. Information from even the most remote village can appear online in less than 8 hours. The hope is that this will become a platform where government, donors and the military can maximize the effectiveness of their efforts. Please spread the word.
Update: For more from bloggers, check out Pakistan Earthquake 2005, South Asia Quake Help, and the QuakeHelp wiki. Google Earth overlays are now available as well.
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