Trapped
under the rubble after an earthquake in eastern Turkey, two teenagers called
for help in a way that reflects how modernity has transformed even the furthest
reaches of this country: they tweeted.
A television
reporter saw the online message soon after the 7.2-magnitude temblor on Sunday
and informed the AKUT Search and Rescue Association. Twitter has a location
feature that allows users to pinpoint their exact co-ordinates. Within two
hours, a search team had extracted the young men from a collapsed building.
Turks do not yet rely on such technologies as much as the
Japanese, who reportedly tweeted their earthquake earlier this year at a rate
of 1,200 mentions per minute, but social media users have made impressive use
of their networks: shaming companies into donating help, publicizing calls for
supplies and encouraging thousands of people to offer their homes as temporary
shelters.
When a
former media adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Tezcan, wrote on
Twitter that he would give his Istanbul residence to a needy family, he started
a movement that attracted 17,000 similar offers within eight hours.
“I was
sitting at home, watching TV, and I asked myself what I can do,” Mr. Tezcan
said. “I’m living in Ankara but I also have a house in Istanbul, which I use
for short visits. So I decided to say on Twitter that I could voluntarily give
my house. I put it up there, and many people started responding saying they
would do the same.”
After the
initial rush of offers, city officials in Istanbul set up a 24-hour hotline to
register people who want to give their homes to people displaced by the quake.
Returning
from a visit to the quake zone, Ahmet Ercan, a leading geophysicist, concluded
that the initial phase of the response had gone relatively well.
“The
rescuers were very successful this time,” Mr. Ercan said. “The victims used
Twitter and mobiles to alert people about their location, which really helped.”
This news
story is from http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/after-turkeys-quake-social-media-saves-lives-and-airs-public-tension/article2215257/?service=mobile.
The earthquake really helped people of Turkey unite again in such disaster. Also,
this story shows how using social media effectively helps victims to get
rescued at the time of the disaster and aids and necessities to be distributed
quickly and in an organized manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment