#disasterresponse

Hi everyone 👋 welcome back to my blog!

In this final weekly reflection, I will be discussing crowd sourcing in times of crisis. In today’s digital environment, social media platforms play an important role in how people respond to emergencies, disasters, and urgent situations. Crowd sourcing refers to the practice of collecting information, resources, or solutions from a large group of people, usually through online platforms.

During times of crisis, crowd sourcing can help spread information quickly and efficiently. Social media users can share real-time updates, location details, safety warnings, and requests for help. This is particularly useful during natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, or pandemics, where official information may take time to reach everyone. Research shows that social media platforms can significantly improve crisis communication and situational awareness (Houston et al., 2020).

One important benefit of crowd sourcing is that it allows ordinary users to participate in emergency response efforts. People can contribute by sharing verified information, donating resources, or helping locate missing individuals. This creates a sense of collective responsibility and demonstrates how digital citizenship extends beyond everyday online behaviour into real-world impact.

However, crowd sourcing during crises also has limitations. One major issue is misinformation. False or unverified information can spread quickly during emergencies, leading to confusion or panic. This makes it difficult for users to distinguish between reliable updates and misleading content. Studies have shown that misinformation tends to spread rapidly in high-stress situations, especially on platforms that prioritise speed and engagement (Vosoughi, Roy, & Aral, 2018).

From a digital citizenship perspective, users must be responsible when sharing crisis-related information. This includes verifying sources, avoiding the spread of rumours, and relying on official updates when possible. Social media platforms also play a role by implementing fact-checking systems and content moderation tools to reduce harmful misinformation.

Overall, crowd sourcing in times of crisis highlights both the power and risks of digital participation. While social media can enhance emergency response and community support, it also requires users to act responsibly and critically in order to ensure accurate and helpful communication.

Thank you

Reference

Choi, M. (2020). Digital citizenship for democratic citizenship: A challenge for transformative learning. Adult Learning, 31(4), 141–148. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306930360_A_Concept_Analysis_of_Digital_Citizenship_for_Democratic_Citizenship_Education_in_the_Internet_Age

Houston, J. B., Hawthorne, J., Perreault, M. F., Park, E. H., Goldstein Hode, M., Halliwell, M. R., Turner McGowen, S. E., Davis, R., Vaid, S., McElderry, J. A., & Griffith, S. A. (2020). Social media and disasters: A functional framework for social media use in disaster planning, response, and research. Disasters, 44(1), 1–22. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265912328_Social_media_and_disasters_A_functional_framework_for_social_media_use_in_disaster_planning_response_and_research

A WORD OF CAUTION FROM @wendellpcg HE WENT THROUGH KATRINA WITH HIS FAMILY AND SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON #ALTADENA 🙏🏾💔 “AFTER 50 YEARS OF PAYING INSURANCE PREMIUMS, WE RECEIVED ONLY $400”. - #TeamDL

Rescue teams in Taiwan’s eastern Hualien County are battling through thick grey sludge and collapsing terrain as they search for 11 people still unaccounted for following Super Typhoon Ragasa. The disaster was triggered when a mountain barrier lake burst, sending a deluge of muddy water into the town of Guangfu. At least 14 people have been confirmed dead so far as recovery efforts continue in the muck.

When Storms and Mountains Collide

Typhoon Ragasa unleashed heavy rainfall across Taiwan, straining natural and manmade barriers alike. Early this week, the heavy rain overwhelmed a mountain lake above Guangfu, causing its natural dam to give way. That collapse unleashed a wall of water mixed with earth, flooding homes, burying roads, and saturating fields in mud.

This barrier lake itself was formed earlier this year, when landslides blocked a tributary of the Matai’an Creek, creating a dammed reservoir of water behind it. Prior rainfall and typhoon activity made the structure vulnerable.

Some of the released water was enormous in scale: authorities estimate that about 60 million tonnes of water burst free from an original volume of 91 million tonnes—equivalent to filling tens of thousands of Olympic swimming pools.

The Struggle in the Muck

Though floodwaters have mostly receded, the havoc remains visible. Thick grey mud blankets large swathes of Guangfu, slowing access and making rescue work arduous. Workers, at times wading through mud up to their waists, are cutting roof holes and entering homes to look for survivors or remains.

Many casualties were elderly residents who could not reach higher floors in time. Some died on first floors when mud and water rushed in.

One tragic case involves Huang Ju-hsing, 88, who remains trapped on his second floor because the lower floors and stairs were buried. His wife, 78, miraculously escaped by climbing over debris downstairs.

Authorities face a difficult decision about how to deal with the now-shrunken barrier lake. Though explosive demolition was considered, officials have rejected that option for fear it could trigger more landslides and worsen the danger.

Numbers in Flux, Communities in Peril

The official death toll now stands at 14, revised downward from 17 after duplicated reports were reconciled.

Meanwhile, the number of people listed as missing has been reduced—from an earlier high above 150 to 33, and now to 11 still missing. Some have been located or confirmed elsewhere, but rescue efforts continue in several locations.

Geographically, Hualien is mountainous, remote, and sparsely populated—conditions that complicate rescue. It’s a region known for natural beauty but also vulnerability to landslides and flooding.

Why This Disaster Was So Severe

A combination of factors converged:

Heavy rainfall overloads natural systems — the typhoon’s intensity overwhelmed drainage and soil absorption.

Barrier lake instability — the dam was already stressed by earlier storms and landslides.

Remote terrain & access issues — roads and rescue routes were damaged or buried in mud.

Delayed or insufficient warning — many victims may not have had time or means to move to safe areas.

Aging population & mobility challenges — older residents often found themselves unable to climb or evacuate quickly.

Climate scientists and disaster analysts point out that such compound disasters—typhoons triggering landslides and lake bursts—are becoming more frequent as extreme weather intensifies.

What Rescue Teams Face Now

Access & extraction: reaching buried homes, unstable slopes, and voids under debris

Search & recovery: identifying remains and locating survivors in collapsed structures

Mud & debris clearance: moving earth, fallen trees, and residual water

Road & bridge repair: restoring routes to allow relief supply movement

Safety of crews: working amid unstable landslide zones, risk of further collapses

Local authorities have ruled out using explosives to break the lake barrier because of the risk to surrounding slopes and lives.

Broader Implications

This tragedy underlines key lessons for disaster planning:

Monitoring of barrier lakes: even natural dams must be observed and assessed after major weather events

Early warning systems: communicating quickly to remote communities can save lives

Infrastructure resilience: roads, bridges, and evacuation paths must withstand flood and landslide stress

Population vulnerability: special plans for older or immobile residents in hazard zones

Climate adaptation: systems built for past norms may be inadequate for the intensifying storms ahead

Rescuers in Hualien continue pressing ahead, wading in mud and rubble, calling names, and cutting through roofs. Every moment is precious. For survivors, the path to recovery will be long—physically, emotionally, and socially. But amid destruction, the efforts of rescuers, emergency teams, and community volunteers are a testament to resolve in the face of nature’s fury.

Recently a bit of water from cleaning equipment on the first floor of the library made its way through a crack in the floor over the political science reference collection in the lower level. Fortunately the leak was identified early by shelving staff, who quickly draped plastic sheeting over the impacted shelvesing to contain the damage. Of the forty-six affected books, thirty-two were only minimally impacted and able to be wiped dry with a cloth while the remaining fourteen suffered significant water damage that required drying treatments. Several books were fanned open to dry while others were interleaved with absorbent sheets and placed under weights to speed drying. The wettest books benefited significantly from interleaving with Zorbix sheets, a commercially available product that is reusable, highly absorbent, and quick drying.

Books fanned out to air dry.

Flattening pages under weight.

In times of emergencies and crisis, a fundamental issue that operates alongside the crisis is our ability to communicate and have access to timely and accurate information. With the rise in the capabilities in Web 2.0 and our continual and ever-rising use of social media sites, we have as noted previously seen rises in citizen journalism as well as the crowdsourcing of information and social mapping.

In discussions with Ping Lo, The ABC’s national social media coordinator during the both the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires and  2011 Queensland floods she discusses the challenges of balancing providing both timely and relevant information to their social media followers.  

“It became evident to the broader organisation that employing well-organised social media could have a profound impact in an emergency situation.” (Lo, 2012)

Citizen journalism: Where average citizens have become more active in the creation and sharing of user generated content to form information on current affairs.

Crowdsourcing: In this context, crowdsourcing seeks to gather information and data on current events and crisis situations by sourcing it from third parties such as people in real time.  

Social Mapping: A way of using data collated from various sources to map locations of events, services and other important information in times of crisis.

I will draw upon my own experience for a moment during Snowstorm Jonas, a blizzard that hit NYC in January of 2016 and battered much of the East Coast. Being an Australian in a snowstorm is the perfect example of a fish out of water; I had never even seen snow before I went to the USA let alone being in the middle of a blizzard. We had both run out of data and could only rely upon Wifi to get accurate and up-to-date information, in the terminal our flight was due to depart there was no free Wifi available! This situation highlighted to me our reliance on technology to get access to information, although the mainstream news gave adequate updates we struggled to find information that was specific to us.

Although I am not comparing what happened to us in NYC to what occurred in Kenya in 2007  but when Ford (2012) discusses mobile (50%) and internet (10%) penetration in Kenya I feel I can comprehend the situation a little more. With no mobile or data services available to us for a period of 16-20 hours and no access to accurate information in this time it felt like a blackout.

Ford’s (2012) concerns on verifying and authenticating information drew a lot of curiosity for me, because, as she discusses if it is up to one person to authenticate and verify information you create another gatekeeping scenario. If people are untrustworthy of mainstream media sources because of the prominence of news selection bias, you run the risk of creating the same kind of disparity towards projects such as Ushahidi.

In Macnamara’s (2013) article he relevantly points out that (full quote posted in previous post) Pierre Levy’s notions of the ‘collective intelligence’ has become an even-footed challenger to the long standing ideal of professional intermediaries or ‘gatekeepers.’ I believe this is because our awareness and opinions of traditional media conglomerates is changing, and when receive real-time updates from either media outlets or the general public they feel more authentic.

Macnamara (2013) also introduces the idea that there is a rise in apomediation, or apomediaries that act as agents to help us bypass the gatekeepers of information. Torrey (2016) explains the term by breaking down the prefix ‘apo’ which is Latin terminology to mean ‘to stand by,’ the apomediary will stand by you and guide you through disseminating information that you seek on the Internet.

I think that inaccurate reporting during live news exists no matter what platform it is delivered by, we have seen evidence of this during the manhunt for the real Boston bombing suspects. It only took a few hours and the power of the internet (namely reddit investigators) to deliver both the incorrect and correct suspects.

Some questions to get you thinking about your own ideas and opinions in the matter…  

Do you think the importance of current and up-to-date information trumps the importance of ensuring that the information is authentic or verified? Think of this in an event like the Haiti earthquakes.

Time is everything in times of genuine crisis, but does access to immediate information make us more impatient?

Is apomediation helpful in access to information? Or does it make us less independent on being able to do our own research?

References & Bibliography

'Boston Marathon bombings' 2014, Wikipedia, viewed 10 January 2017, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings>.

Ford, H (2012) 'Crowd Wisdom', Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Glance, D (2011) The future of news: crowdsourced and connected, The Conversation, viewed 10 January 2017<https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-news-crowdsourced-and-connected-4276>.

Macnamara, J (2013) Google’s map of North Korea stirs social media passion and tensions, The Conversation, viewed 10 January 2017 <https://theconversation.com/googles-map-of-north-korea-stirs-social-media-passion-and-tensions-11858>.

Madrigal, A (2013) #BostonBombing: The Anatomy of a Misinformation Disaster, The Atlantic, viewed 10 January 2017 <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/-bostonbombing-the-anatomy-of-a-misinformation-disaster/275155/>.

Poblet, M & Casanovas, P (2012) Crowdsourced crisis mapping: how it works and why it matters, The Conversation, viewed 10 January 2016 <https://theconversation.com/crowdsourced-crisis-mapping-how-it-works-and-why-it-matters-7014>

Postetti, J & Lo, P (2012) The Twitterisation of ABCs Emergency & Disaster Communication, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 34-39