Reno rocked by quakes, urged to prepare for a bigger one
The AP reports that Reno was hit by a 4.7 earthquake Friday night, with over 100 aftershocks since.
The Reno Gazette-Journal has a number of reactive stories, comments on the articles and a message board set up asking "Did your home experience any damage? Are you far away, but still felt the quake?"
The RGJ message board only has about 15 posts, with very little geospecific data and no geospatial organization of that data. For instance, the data could be used to create a user-generated map showing where the most damage, or most significant shaking was located relative to the epicenter.
The Earthquake Hazards Program in Pasadena (linked to by an RGJ reader) has an event-specific questionnaire up, and then compiled data for everyone to look at. They've also created a Zip Code Map and a Geo Code Map that give some perspective on the incident.
There is no coordinated Agency View, with web links and contact information for the local and regional agencies, along with the latest news from each via RSS or manually compiled. In fact, there is no mention of the earthquakes at all on the City of Reno site, the Fire Department, the Police Department or County Sheriff.
From a web infrastructure standpoint, it appears Reno is ill-equipped to properly aggregate and distribute information in the case of a major disaster. A 6.0 quake could collapse buildings, rupture gas mains, fracture highways and more. Web traffic will spike from Reno residents and extended friends and family beyond Reno looking for more information. 911 will be overwhelmed with traffic. Cell phone networks will be overwhelmed, with text messages and Twitter standing the best chance of getting in and out of the region.
Reno would be well-served exploring a technology solution that anticipates a regional emergency, and is prepared to aggregate agency information, allowing residents to interact at neighborhood or even street level online while posting blogs, photos, videos and contributing to map mashups, effectively notifying existing volunteers, and help manage "spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers," or volunteer convergence.
The better informed the citizenry is, the less stress that will be placed on the deployed agencies, and the more resilient the community will be in response and recovery.
Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada's largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors... "A magnitude 6 quake wouldn't be a scientific surprise," John Anderson, director of the [UNR] seismological lab, said Saturday. "We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night."
The Reno Gazette-Journal has a number of reactive stories, comments on the articles and a message board set up asking "Did your home experience any damage? Are you far away, but still felt the quake?"
The RGJ message board only has about 15 posts, with very little geospecific data and no geospatial organization of that data. For instance, the data could be used to create a user-generated map showing where the most damage, or most significant shaking was located relative to the epicenter.
The Earthquake Hazards Program in Pasadena (linked to by an RGJ reader) has an event-specific questionnaire up, and then compiled data for everyone to look at. They've also created a Zip Code Map and a Geo Code Map that give some perspective on the incident.
There is no coordinated Agency View, with web links and contact information for the local and regional agencies, along with the latest news from each via RSS or manually compiled. In fact, there is no mention of the earthquakes at all on the City of Reno site, the Fire Department, the Police Department or County Sheriff.
From a web infrastructure standpoint, it appears Reno is ill-equipped to properly aggregate and distribute information in the case of a major disaster. A 6.0 quake could collapse buildings, rupture gas mains, fracture highways and more. Web traffic will spike from Reno residents and extended friends and family beyond Reno looking for more information. 911 will be overwhelmed with traffic. Cell phone networks will be overwhelmed, with text messages and Twitter standing the best chance of getting in and out of the region.
Reno would be well-served exploring a technology solution that anticipates a regional emergency, and is prepared to aggregate agency information, allowing residents to interact at neighborhood or even street level online while posting blogs, photos, videos and contributing to map mashups, effectively notifying existing volunteers, and help manage "spontaneous unaffiliated volunteers," or volunteer convergence.
The better informed the citizenry is, the less stress that will be placed on the deployed agencies, and the more resilient the community will be in response and recovery.
