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Technology In Katrina's Wake 523

Posted by Zonk from the picking-up-the-pieces dept.
We've had many submissions about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It doesn't come easy writes "From 'the end justifies the means department', the BBC is reporting that bogus emails about the current situation in New Orlean contain links to websites that promptly infect the concerned reader's computer. From the article: 'The separate virus and fake donations bogus e-mails have been discovered by computer security firms SophosLabs and Websense Security Labs. They are similar to previous fraudulent e-mails connected to last year's Indian Ocean Tsunami.'" Less cynically, an anonymous reader writes "A Linux developer is organizing volunteers for a public 'web station' project to assist Hurricane Katrina victims. The plan is to create numerous Linux-based public kiosks that boot directly into the Firefox browser and display a special home page with links to various services. In addition to offering disaster relief information and news, the kiosks will provide basic email capabilities via Yahoo!, Gmail, Earthlink, MS Hotmail, and other web-mail services. They're looking for donations of time and money. If you're looking to donate more directly, tech companies across the country are maintaining pages with ties to respected charities. Yahoo is maintaining the Red Cross donation page, and everyone from Microsoft to IBM has a message on their frontpage."
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Technology In Katrina's Wake More

Technology In Katrina's Wake

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  • Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by suso ( 153703 ) * on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:09PM (#13466166) Journal
    One thing that I'll never understand is why we (humans) continue to put important things in the most vulnerable places. This goes way beyond technology, but I'll use it as an example. Many large internet services companies are based on the west or east coast or in Texas. If you consider the worst (which is what just happend in New Orleans), there is a great potential for disaster in these places. However, in the middle of the country where the only natural threat is tornados, which don't affect everything together, there is very little. And so much
      of the Internet depends on those vulnerable regions. The aftermath of the hurricane is now threatening DirectNIC.

        Why do people keep building villages next to volcanos, museums with important artifacts in large cities, data centers in flood plains, major network hubs in cities.

        I'm guessing that the most likely reason this happens is because those places happen to be nice to live, better weather, etc. and it serves people's short term interests. But in the long term, I think we're just asking for Trouble (yes with a capital T).

        When a large wave comes in and knocks out the east coast with the next 100-1000 years, we'll probably have the same old excuses that we do now. And we'll be even more dependent on technology when it does.

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:15PM (#13466215)

      The short answer: humans are fundamentally lazy creatures with short attention spans.

      I'm pretty sure that one day aliens will come across the remnants of our civilization and wonder "...but they had the beginnings of space travel...why did they all just stay on this one vulnerable planet? Didn't this species ever plan ahead?"

      • You're the only one. ;-) (Score:4, Funny)

        by suso ( 153703 ) * on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:28PM (#13466316) Journal
        You know TripMaster Monkey, I think you're the only person on Slashdot who ever understands what I'm getting at. Everyone else takes me so literally and mods me down as overrated.

      • Re:Why? (Score:3, Informative)

        by ch-chuck ( 9622 )
        How many people do you know have a philosophy that takes into account the life left behind after they're gone, or 'life after death'? A space-faring civilization would have to be a multi-generational endeavor, where people plan ahead and work for events to take place long after they're gone, but the prevailing mode of thinking, that I can tell, is personally selfish, life for yourself, enjoy life all you can while your alive and let posterity fend for themselves. Heck, rack up a big debt and pass it on, who

    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Drooling Iguana ( 61479 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:18PM (#13466242)
      Why do people keep building villages next to volcanos,
      Volcanic soil is quite fertile.
      museums with important artifacts in large cities,
      So that it can be seen by as many people as possible. That's kinda the point of museums. Otherwise they'd just stick all their priceless artifacts in unmarked boxes in giant wharehouses, like they did with the Ark of the Covenant.
      data centers in flood plains,
      Flood plains soil, like volcanic soil, is usually quite fertile, and cities are nearly always built near rivers due to the fact that a city's growth is directly dependant on its water supply. Data centers are built in cities because it's easier to find qualified employees there.
      major network hubs in cities.
      Again, they need to be built where people are, or it would be way too difficult to find qualified technicians to run them.

      • Re:Why? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Data centers are built in cities because it's easier to find qualified employees there.

        True, but how about Cincinnati, Denver, Chicago, or Wichita? There are plenty of safer places with fewer catastrophic natural disasters. Although, I still don't get the "build where the experience is" thing. No matter where you build, the qualified will find you for the right price. If you build in Iowa, you might have to pay more to intice the epxerts, but it's probably still less than you're paying for rent and

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:18PM (#13466245)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I'm partially agreed with your points. On the other hand:
      Why do people keep building villages next to volcanos, museums with important artifacts in large cities, data centers in flood plains, major network hubs in cities.

      To the points of 'why place museums and hubs in cities'? Really: duh. That's where people are, to go to the museums, to research the artifacts, to work on the hubs.
      As to the 'villages near volcanos' point: On volcanic islands, you don't have a choice. And where people

    • Re:Why? (Score:2)

      by Otter ( 3800 )
      One thing that I'll never understand is why we (humans) continue to put important things in the most vulnerable places.

      That's hardly a difficult question to answer -- major cities are built next to rivers and harbors because that was (and to a large degree still is) the primary route of major transportation. Museums are in cities so people can go to them. Technical centers are in cities so they can get workers for them.

      There are rare cases where it's worthwhile to place something major in the middle of no

    • Re:Why? (Score:2, Informative)

      by heatdeath ( 217147 )
      One thing that I'll never understand is why we (humans) continue to put important things in the most vulnerable places.

      Earth is vulnerable. We have floods, tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, extreme heat, extreme cold, wars, famines. Humans are vulnerable. We have disease, murder, accidents, etc. Everything is risk management, not risk prevention. As you said, "it serves people's short term interests". That's how we operate. Long term, we're dead. Short term is how we plan. (Unless you believe in a
    • One thing that I'll never understand is why we (humans) continue to put important things in the most vulnerable places

      Because it looks pretty. Because there are developers who will buy it cheap and sell it high.

      Plus, people never believe it will happen to them. How many people build million dollar houses on beaches on the atlantic ocean? And how many times do those houses get knocked down? Every 4 or 5 years? Every 10 years. There are some places it is next to impossible to buy home insurance.

      The anws

    • Many large internet services companies are based on the west or east coast or in Texas. The aftermath of the hurricane is now threatening DirectNIC.

      It seemed pretty good that DirectNIC were based in New Orleans, and its still pretty good that they are - because we're talking loss given extreme events. You could assess the potential of extreme events vs. the cost of protecting against them. Much of California is precariously situated, New Orleans was thought to be a little less precarious, but the pot
    • Have you ever been to New Orleans? It's a great city - not like any other city I have been in.

      I think your reasoning is flawed. By your way of thinking, one should not live or place any item of importance on/in:
      the coast of any continent
      any major city
      along national borders
      along fault lines
      or anywhere near any of these places.

      We are human and we make choices that are sometimes not the most logical, but are based on other more intanglible things.

      I think the flaw in your post can be summed up

    • The reasons (Score:3, Interesting)

      by zippthorne ( 748122 )
      People tend to congrate in areas which can support the most people. Areas that have things like arable land, freshwater supply, and access to trade routes.

      Volcanic soil is about the most fertile soil on the planet, which means that a society which uses it to develop its food supply can grow quite without having to import as much food.

      Sheltered deepwater ports allow for large amounts of trade via the most efficient way of transporting things: huge barges.

      Cities will even pop up at crossroads of sufficiently

    • Belleweather (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @08:15PM (#13467786) Homepage Journal
      New Orleans was built in 1717 by French explorers who got lost in the new territory they claimed. But they found a tribal trail from a giant freshwater lake to a stable part of the river that led up into the entire continent, the entire area they called "Louisiana" (from Texas to the Appalachians, from the Gulf to the Great Lakes). They built a walled city for trade and conquest, which prospered. And survived: at high ground, it hasn't been destroyed by any of its frequent storms, though a fire under its 34 year Spanish rule meant rebuilding in the late 1700s.

      It's in a great location for shipping and connection to rail, road and the abundant farmland. The Mississippi River moves a bit, but the value of its strategic location (near the Panama Canal and Venezuela's oil terminals) is vastly superior to any other alternate location for its purpose, with a location more protected from the weather than most of the rest of the Gulf Coast (though now obviously not enough). Development is a question of alternatives, and New Orleans has been the best option for development for literally centuries.

      The city was secure, even under the threat of major hurricanes, through the 1930s. That's when the Army Corps of Engineers installed the wall holding back the lake, with levees, insufficient to withstand a Category 4 (or 5) hurricane. And failed to compensate for the destruction and development of the buffer zone of wetlands between the city and the Gulf. With those centuries-tested natural relief buffers, the city wasn't nearly as threatened by catastrophe. Of course there have been huge benefits from reclaiming land from the lake, though the waste of the Gulf wetlands has little upside beyond real estate agents and vacationers. But those benefits were bought with IOUs to Nature, which has eventually called in the chits. We could have paid more for better systems, but we tried to get off cheap.

      People are talking about replacing New Orleans like it's somehow something that you just do. Like replacing a 50-year heart with a bionic one. Well, people don't do that unless we're forced to, usually after the old one has failed, and a heroic effort is necessary to save us. Which we then do, even after we've raised kids, produced in our careers, had our fun. A city is vastly more than just its economic function, both to its residents and the people who care about them. New Orleans is unique, and irreplaceable.

      The much better question is how America took the city for granted, letting it down in every way, though we've known this catastrophe was inevitable. Along with (Republican) House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert saying it should just get bulldozed, we've got (Republican) president Bush saying "no one could have anticipated the levees would fail" (echoing his lies about the 2001 planebombings of New York City). Those people, and their subordinates, along with the Democratic Senators from Louisiana, and (until last year) the Republican Governor of Louisiana, have blood on their hands. They, like everyone else in charge, abandoned their duty to protect New Orleans. American development is always entirely devoted to the sale to the first customer, regardless of the hidden costs to people left holding the bag. Now we've got our heart ripped out. And so much of our rotten understructure is revealed to the world.

      Yes, we should look at the big picture, at tomorrow's risks we deny when we're making today's sales. We have to look at "total cost of ownership" of more than just Linux, but at whole cities. But we can't blame the victim so much, here: New Orleans, which has delivered so much to American and the world from its unique location. But which has always been shortchanged, paid in scrip. Now that she's destroyed, we have to first look to save her as much as possible. Then look at who's got her blood on her hands, and deal with them. And in the longer term, look at how we let her down, and let ourselves down by losing her. Because New Orleans was possibly the most human city in America, warts and all. How we deal with her and her fate is how we deal with all of our fates.

  • Why has no one mentioned... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Lordfly ( 590616 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:10PM (#13466174) Journal
    ...this guy?

    http://massivewinners.com/mgno/ [massivewinners.com]

    He's writing a blog from within New Orleans.. he's running diesel generators to keep his company (I think it's a datacenter) running... he has a live webcam and hundreds of pictures of the disaster. It's about as close to the ground as you can get. Truly amazing...

  • Resilience (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jav1231 ( 539129 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:13PM (#13466200)
    Things like this bring out the best in some and the worse in others. Everything from looting to taking the opportunity to stake out political claims. The people will rebuild and do so despite what we do and do not do. I'm glad to see some are choosing to "do."
  • It's sad to see people send out viruses, and spam, and other things in the wake of a disaster such as this. Same goes for the idiots in New Orleans who are walking around with guns, looting, raping, and whatever.

    People like these should be tracked down, flogged, and then prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

    • Re:It's sad (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) *

      People like these should be tracked down, flogged, and then prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

      They're doing better than that...national guardsmen now have orders to shoot to kill [reuters.com]. Pity we can't do the same to the scammmers.

  • Fraud (Score:5, Interesting)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:16PM (#13466226) Journal
    If you donate, give to an organization you trust. Don't get ripped off by donating just because someone has a website set up. These fraud sites are run by scum, while there is a tragedy, they want to take money which should help people in need, and take it for themseleves.

    And I don't get why every company now has a donation website for people? Why does Microsoft need a link for donating? Is it all PR bullshit? Is it in fashion to appear to be helping? Why doesn't Bill gates take some of his billions, and give? I am sure he will, but it seems like he can donate far more than the web page will raise. It is better to let the groups which have been around for so long do the job, the Red Cross and known charities.

    Warric Dunn had a great idea. He is a running back in the NFL. He challenged every NFL player to donate $5,000. A drop in the bucket for guys making millions. It would raise over $8,000,000 for New Orleans. We will soon find out who the good guys are, and who the assholes are.

    • Re:Fraud (Score:5, Informative)

      by $RANDOMLUSER ( 804576 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:30PM (#13466332)
      Funny you should mention that. The third link on the FEMA.gov "Volunteer or Make a Donation" [fema.gov] page, under "Donate Cash", just happens to be Operation Blessing [ob.org], who's chairman is "MG Robertson," is none other than the Rev. Pat - Marion Gordon Robertson is his real name - while Pat's wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the board.

      I feel certain that 100% of any and all donations will go directly to New Orleans.

      • Re:Fraud (Score:4, Informative)

        by interiot ( 50685 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:36PM (#13466389) Homepage
        Donations will go to New Orleans, diamond mining, and horse racin^H^H^H^H^H^H athleticism [wikipedia.org].

      • Re:Fraud (Score:3, Informative)

        by superyooser ( 100462 )
        OB [ob.org]
        Efficiency - Over 99.2% of OBI's spending goes toward humanitarian programs.

        Excellence - MinistryWatch.Com ranks Operation Blessing International #2 (out of 451 charities) with its top 5-Star Financial Efficiency Rating.

        High-Value - For every $10 you give, it helps us secure more than $100 of donated food and relief supplies (10 to 1 return on your charitable investment).

      • Re:Fraud (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Geoffreyerffoeg ( 729040 )
        If you're going to give to a religious organization, give to an established church's relief effort (shoutout to UMCOR [methodistrelief.org], since I go to a Methodist church). A lot of these strange organizations like Operation Blessing that you mentioned take a percentage off for "administrative expenses" - which in this case appears to be the Robertson family.

        Not that I know that Operation Blessing is necessarily corrupt, just that Pat Robertson isn't exactly the most trustworthy guy (seriously, what "Christian" goes around as

    • Re:Fraud (Score:2, Insightful)

      by alienfluid ( 677872 )
      First of all, companies like IBM and Microsoft do not have donation websites - they have websites that have information about how to donate - and contain links to valid and legitimate organizations.

      Secondly, Microsoft has already donated $1 million (so far) and is matching EVERY donation made by its full-time employees (that counts for something).

      Thirdly, IMHO, companies put up these websites to display their solidarity with the people affected by the tragedy and to raise awareness through distributing FREE

  • If there is no power... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NickCatal ( 865805 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:16PM (#13466231)
    How will these kiosks work in the areas where they are needed most? What about internet access? etc.

    • Way ahead of you! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by DanishE ( 912193 )
      This has already been down in Lafayette, LA as of Wednesday at the Cajundome. Setup numerous recycled workstations with a Linux distro on each of them. People had Internet access so they could post on sites they were okay and to search for others. We also setup VOIP phones for users to call out for free. We are presently trying to get Bellsouth to bring in some more Internet connections to allow for the heavy load we are consuming. Even Laura Bush was here today asking to use our services (public appea
  • But from how I understand it, what they need now isn't technology, not even electricity, but to be moved out from their hell hole and get some food, instead of starving to death in the heat on their roofs or have their children raped by armed criminals.

  • In Related Geek News (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Quirk ( 36086 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:18PM (#13466243) Homepage Journal
    Wired ran an article [wired.com] that in part reads as follows:
    "Virtually everything that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared."

    While I'll do what I can, I find the fact that the scenario had been modeled disturbing in light of the disorganized response. The more so since President Bush has said no one predicted the levees being breached.

  • Pre-emptive post (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lpangelrob ( 714473 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:20PM (#13466253)
    From reading other sources out there, I know this subject will come up, so I'm going to go at it first.

    The federal/state/local government wasn't prepared for Katrina (yes, even in spite of the drills) because the last Category 4 storm, Hurricane Charley [wikipedia.org], wasn't all that bad. I get the feeling that every single government agency in the country was gearing up to respond to that type of event.

    Katrina has ended up like Charley^2, mostly due ot her size. And there's not nearly enough workers, rescuers, or responders to be able to deal with the situation.

    In addition, Charley did not hit Tampa, Florida directly.

    It seemed that all the meteorologists knew the impact of Katrina, even in the 18 hours before when we knew she would hit New Orleans, but that this didn't get through to the government that everyone is now blaming for failing to respond.

    • Re:Pre-emptive post (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )
      Actually they thought that they had prepared. The told people to evacuate. They told people that went to the SuperDome to bring five days of food and water.
      What they where not ready for was 25+% of the people not evacuating. Why didn't the state use every school bus and truck to get the people the heck out?
      I really feel for these people but they should have gotten out of New Orleans.

      And the state of LA should have done more to get them out.Maybe the National Guard should have been called up before the storm
  • There is a excellent liveCD [livecd.net] ready for this, based on firefox.Or the locked-down kiosk version LiveKiosk.
  • Why is this page [dhs.gov] still empty five days later?

    I can't imagine the web staff are qualified to do on site rescue work so can't be so busy that they can't produce something for the public.

  • Why??? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by maxrate ( 886773 )
    The terminals will just get shot at or stolen.

  • The gulf coast has taken one in the shorts... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by suitepotato ( 863945 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:25PM (#13466298)
    ...and the only thing on the minds of thousands of Slashdotters is whether computer and network technology is involved and if so does it involve Linux, Firefox, and Open Source Software.

    Fro crying out loud people, who gives a damn?! Thousands are dead, many thousands more injured, and most of them and thousands more homeless and an even larger amount without drinkable water and an even larger amount without electrical power. WHO CARES if Linux is involved?

    I swear, the shallow and selfish opportunism never ceases to amaze me. I bet if Bill Gates donated $50M to relief efforts there would be an immediate post proclaiming it an attempt to buy influence and derail criticism while a small effort of Linux geeks to raise a few donations via PayPal would get endless glowing praise. As it is I fully expect the tragedy to be laid at the feet of the Bush administration without regard to the local government evidently collapsing on itself in the crucial first hours of the aftermath.
    • WHO CARES if Linux is involved?

      Uhh, the readers of a 'tech news' site maybe? Or at least the Linux fanboxen in the readership.

    • ...and call your Congressmen...
    • and you are trying to create a MS vs. Linux flamewar on /.
      Disgusting.

      Ah, and also already starting the "its everyones fault but Bush" game, now ain't that nice.
      Again, disgusting.

      As you rightly say, people are dead and people are dying right now and the response to this disaster was anything but adequate, as is plain to see and that's all you care about?
      Pathetic.
    • Fro crying out loud people, who gives a damn?! Thousands are dead, many thousands more injured, and most of them and thousands more homeless and an even larger amount without drinkable water and an even larger amount without electrical power. WHO CARES if Linux is involved?

      Amen to that. My RSS reader is full of tech sites, and the past week has seen a giant void of relevant postings.

    • Puts me in mind of my late mother-in-law's stories of nursing in China in the 1920s and 30s. She was working for the Rockefeller Foundation which was spending loads of money, but it was a drop in the bucket for a third-world population that size. One day she was working frantically to fight an epidemic, rationing her scarce supply of medication out to the patients with the best shot at survival and letting the hopeless cases die, when what should arrive but a big, shiny new truck.

      Driven by smiling missionar

  • wesley clark (Score:4, Interesting)

    by crabpeople ( 720852 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:30PM (#13466335) Journal
    General Wesley clark sounds off on the disaster.

    http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/1/123536/7907 [tpmcafe.com]

    time for one of them good ole friday flamewars
  • don't know who to blame, but the federal government were definitely slow in acting (why the f*ck was Bush on vacation until Wednesday when he declared Louisiana a disaster area before the hurricane hit Louisiana?). I was one of the fortunate ones to evacuate on Sunday and staying in Houston with my family in a hotel. The gravitude of the situation is sinking in, realizing we cannot go back home for months. Don't have enough money to stay past next week at the hotel, no idea if our house is up in New Orleans

  • That's freakin' ridiculous! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02, 2005 @03:35PM (#13466373)
    Web Stations???? That's almost as ridiculous as the free Wi-fi until Sept. 2 [slashdot.org] idea.

    When you're starving to death, living in a toxic cesspool with dead people floating by, with raping and pillaging all around you, the LAST freaking thing on your mind is "maybe I'll go browse at the kiosk for a while"

    Give to the red cross; they're trying to save lives. The kiosks, while I'm sure an honest effort to help, is simply not going to make as much impact as the same amount of money allocated to getting food and drinking water into that hellhole.
    • They want to set it up in the refugee camps so that people there are able to communicate and maybe, hopefully find family members and friends they haven't heard from yet.

      What exactly is wrong with this idea?
  • Gives new meaning to the phrase "dry pair".
  • ...before you've consumed enough calories to stay alive for another day?

  • Relief funds? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by phorm ( 591458 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @04:00PM (#13466562) Journal
    I'm not really sure about donating to any things like 'relief funds' for the very reason that many helpful organizations are burocracies (sp?) that tend to get very little capital to the end recipients (the victims).

    That's bad enough, but add to this the scamming bastards and others (gas companies anyone) taking advantage of this disaster... and I wish I could pay somebody to break the knees of these scammers. I hope that the government pays very close attention to the popular scam sites, and makes a very, very strong example of them... like maybe dropping them in the middle of New Orleans survivors and letting everyone know about their scammy websites...

  • Searchable Database for Katrina Survivors (Score:3, Informative)

    by strutton ( 614490 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @04:13PM (#13466637)
    A group of web developers at EarthLink whipped up a page [earthlink.net] last night designed to aid in finding Katrina victims. I know there are many of these popping up. This site is searchable by last name and also includes links to many of the other survivor lists. The site was done solely as a public service...katrina.earthlink.net [earthlink.net]

  • Company website screenshots (Score:3, Interesting)

    by alienfluid ( 677872 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @04:13PM (#13466639) Homepage
    For those of you who are interested, I have put up a compile of company website screenshots on my website. It seems that a lot of companies (in the computer industry at least) are displaying solidarity with the hurricane victims. Screenshots [winisp.net]

  • Don't forget some the best tech working - the hams (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 02, 2005 @04:16PM (#13466661)
    Let us not forget all the ham radio operators who have been working continuously since even before the hurricane made land fall [arrl.org], whether they are working in RACES [races.net], ARES [arrl.org], SATERN [satern.org], the Hurricane Watch Net [hwn.org], or just volunteering their time on their own in the disaster area. There has been far too many ignorant dolts, especially with regard to the topic of BPL, who trivialize ham radio as some special interest hobby that should go away so that we can get subpar internet access to places where it is feasable to get better service otherwise. Where are your cell phones and internet service now jackasses?

    Here are a few stories: 1 [arrl.org], 2 [newschannel5.com], and 3 [wlns.com].

  • Redundant do-gooders (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @04:42PM (#13466812) Homepage Journal
    A Linux developer is organizing volunteers for a public 'web station' project to assist Hurricane Katrina victims.
    Craigslist has a dozen different people "organizing volunteers" for web sites to help Katrina victims. As if nobody else could have thought of it. At best, all these sites will confuse people and repeat each others efforts. At worse, they'll hinder each other.

    Most of what needs to be done is dreary and low-tech: helping load trucks, sorting blankets, etc. So if you want to help, call up the Salvation Army or the Red Cross and offer your time.

  • US Government depending on radio (Score:4, Informative)

    by leighklotz ( 192300 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @05:02PM (#13466911) Homepage
    The US government making extensive use of terrestrial radio (not sat phones, not cell sites) to communicate in this disaster:

    The US Government SHARES [ncs.gov] service reports that radio HF, VHF and UHF radio are the only means of communication available. "SHARES was used in numerous cases [August 29] to facilitate communication coordination for both federal and military agencies, and also rescue efforts for stranded civilian personnel," John Peterson said.

    Peterson said SHARES, which is part of the National Communication System, will continue to be a major communication facility for federal government agencies and military units responding to the Katrina emergency, and "SHARES stations should be prepared for extended operations." He encouraged any and all reports from affected areas.

    SHARES is continuing operation 24/7 on government communication frequencies of 14.3965 MHz days and 7.632 MHz nights throughout the disaster response.


    For more info on amateur radio assistance (as opposed to government work) see ARRL [arrl.org].

  • Thank You (Score:4, Interesting)

    by humankind ( 704050 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @06:30PM (#13467366) Journal
    As someone who lives and works in New Orleans and just tonite finally found a place with electricity and net access, I want to say thanks to everyone who is helping with the efforts. Things are really bad for many people.

    Interestingly enough, our main NOC is located in the CBD of New Orleans and is still online as of now, running on a generator. I don't know how long it will last -- but since our generator is located no more than 10 feet above the street level, the water can't be that bad down there.

    Two days ago we donated our generator for the backup NOC to a group that was doing search and rescue - it created a small outage of a few web sites that happened to be situated there (that we're mirroring now to servers out of state), but we felt it was better to put the generator to use to directly help people save lives, as opposed to keeping a few web sites up advertising restaurants that may or may not ever open again.

  • RFID tracking disaster victims (Score:3, Interesting)

    by whitis ( 310873 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @07:02PM (#13467519) Homepage

    Wristbands with RFID/barcode/human readable serial number could be used to (voluntarily) track victims like packages. This would, among other things, reduce load on cell phone networks from (often futile) attempts to deterimine the location of missing people or reassure family members. Serial number must include checkdigits at the very least. A random password is also printed on the reverse side (for logging in remotely after leaving area).

    Wristband serial #12345678

    • 2004-08-29T1200 Wristband assigned to victim on board helicopter NG1234 after retrieving from rooftop at latittude/longitude. Status: uninjured
    • 2004-08-29T1205 Audio recording of victims identity recorded (enroute). lat/long.
    • 2005-08-29T1210 Data uploaded to FEMA webservers via Wifi-Satelite uplink ABC123 at New Orleans Superdome (as helicopter approached)
    • 2005-08-29T1211 Email address assigned: 12345678@victims.fema.gov
    • 2005-08-29T1213 Western Union Cash Transfer ID assigned KAT12345678 (this allows people to wire money without knowing the destination. Strong crypto required on RFID tag for verification in case wallet lost).
    • 2005-08-29T1212 Leaving helicopter at latitude/longitude. destination: new orleans superdome.
    • 2005-08-29T1213 data upload
    • 2005-08-29T1220 Swiped entering new orleans astrodome lat/long
    • 2005-08-29T1300 Audio recording transcribed (in, for example topeka, kansas). Spelling errors likely. Name: Jon Q public
    • 2005-08-29T1330 Friend/family member registered for status notifications: Bob Public bpublic@sprintpcs.net
    • 2005-08-29T1400 Name/address entered at data entry station DEF456 at new orleans superdome
      Name: John Q Public
      Address: 1234 Bourboun Street, New Orleans 12345
      Medical Alert: none (private field)
    • 2005-08-29T1430 Checked email at email station QRZ100 at new orleans superdome. station lat/long
    • 2005-08-29T1435 Public message recorded at email station QRZ100. station lat/long.
      Public message:
      I am ok but my cat drowned. Lost my wallet evacuating house. Don't have my address book.
    • 2005-09-02T1000 Leaving new orleans superdome station XYZ456. station lat/long. Destination: bus
    • 2005-09-02T1015 Boarding bus #1234. station lat/long. Destination: Houston astrodome
    • 2005-09-02T1017 Data Upload
    • 2005-09-02T1800 Leaving bus #1234 Destination: Houston astrodome portable station lat/long.
    • 2005-09-02T1812 Entering houston astrodome station lat/long
    • 2005-09-02T1830 Checked email. Email Station UIP888, houston astrodome. station lat/long.
    • 2005-09-02T1845 Visited mobile western union station WU-K-101. Location: houston astrodome lat/long.
    • 2005-09-02T1917 Leaving Houston Astrodome lat/long. Destination: taxi to airport
    • 2005-09-02T2000 Logged into FEMA via internet (from kiosk at houston airport). Public Message: I am taking UA flight 456 to Tucson, AZ. I will be staying at my brother bob's house: 444 main street, tucson AZ 11111, phone: 987-654-3210, email: bob@tucson-online.org
    • 2005-09-02T2100 Logged in via internet. Email Forwarding address set to jpublic@earthlink.net
    • 2005-09-02T2102 Logged in via internet. Snail mail forwarding addre

  • Donation links on front pages (Score:3, Informative)

    by glass_window ( 207262 ) on Friday September 02, 2005 @08:09PM (#13467758)
    everyone from Microsoft to IBM has a message on their frontpage.

    You mean, "Everyone from (A) Apple [apple.com] to (Z) ZDNet [zdnet.com] has a message on their frontpage."

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