Hey all,
Sandy
is a major storm, previously a hurricane, that has caused extensive
flooding, power and transportation outages, and physical damage to the
US East Coast and Caribbean. More than 100 deaths have been linked to
the storm. You can see an overview of what is going on in NYC here: http://google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy-nyc
So
essentially, over 100,000 people in Lower Manhattan are without power,
and will likely not have it back up for a few days. In order to stay
informed as the situation changes, and to keep in touch with loved
ones, they will need a way to communicate with their laptops and
phones.
We are innovating tools
using Heroku, Twillio, Human.io, google docs, google maps, crowdmaps --
pretty much anything we can get our hands on. This effort is being
spearheaded by the http://civic.mit.edu/
to help make services and connect tech people with people in need on
the ground. A lot of interesting things are happening in the wake of
this natural disaster: http://www.fastcompany.com/3002598/sandy-prompts-louder-calls-free-wi-fi
This is a unique opprtunity
to innovate to help people (people before borders, tech beyond
borders) and maybe change the debate on issues like universal free open
wifi)lease
volunteer some coding / hacking time and help some real people in a
different part of the world that are not having a great time right now.
This a chance to demonstrate the power of the open, unrestricted
internet
Come and help us over at #HurricaneHackers! Start here: http://hurricanehackers.com/ | Then read the HH-Projects list here: http://bit.ly/hh-projects-read | lulz: http://brownbag.me:9001/p/sandylulz | tunes: http://turntable.fm/hurricane_jammin | follow us @hurricanehackrs. Also: Join or organize a Sandy CrisisCamp this weekend: http://crisiscommons.org/2012/10/30/sandycrisiscamp/
If you are in NYC are looking for space to work with power, heat, and wifi, check out https://sandycoworking.crowdmap.com/
and the#sandycoworking hashtag on Twitter. Many of NYC's co-working
spaces were damaged, so the need for work space is urgent. Updates on
the broader NY Tech community response can be found at
www.nytechresponds.org.
Please share this post far and wide!
#HurricaneHackers
@hurricanehackrs
