On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. Its shocking aftermath once again demonstrates the need for timely, accurate information to strengthen aid, response and recovery after a disaster. On January 13, 2010, the ICT4Peace Foundation created a new page on its ICT4Peace Inventory wiki with curated links to a number of leading international and local sources with critical information on Haiti.

Please see http://inventory.ict4peace.org/Haiti+Earthquake+-+January+2010

Key updates on 17 January 2010 include using a feature on OCHA ReliefWeb to create a Briefing Kit for Haiti: Earthquake - Jan 2010, a compilation of information containing all Reliefweb updates on Haiti, all situation reports on Haiti and all post-earthquake maps and imagery issued by OCHA to date. It weighs in around 36Mb, and is a PDF that can be mined by researchers for information on the first days of the aid effort.

Other key updates include,

• Link to European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) update, published 15 January 2010, which says the most urgent needs are search and rescue and first aid teams, of course, sanitation equipment, tents, water, food and logistics and the repair of the communication systems.
• Links to all UN OCHA Sit Reps issued to date
• Links to all WFP emergency telecoms sit reps issued to date
• Plethora of new vital GIS raw data / imagery sources, including imagery from daily UAV flights over Haiti post-earthquake (maybe first instance of UAV imagery being used in this manner?), US National Geospatial Intelligence Agency data, ArcGIS resources and DigiGlobe resources, both free and on demand.
• Vital updates from International Amateur Radio Union (Ham radio) which seems to be very resilient to disasters
• Video embed from British broadcaster Sky on how technology is shaping aid efforts in Haiti, which notes ironically that the world outside Haiti may know more about the earthquake than many Haitians in the country.
• There’s also an interesting link under Mobile device information services to a free iPhone App displaying Open Street Maps and Sat Imagery on Haiti.

To subscribe automatically to the wiki updates, add feed://inventory.ict4peace.org/rss.xml?page=Haiti+Earthquake+-+January+2010 to your news reader.