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When SMS Messaging Is Planned For, It Helps People

I've always harped on 2 way SMS communication, since before the South East Asia tsunami in 2004. It's always irritated me that such an obvious thing seemed so unobvious to people. It's not a matter of ownership, it's a matter of just seeing something that can save lives doing just what it could.

 Today I got a real treat. A group of people on the other side of the planet, in Indonesia, who I do not know and have never spoken with, have done it, and sadly, have had to use it. Check out WorldWideHelp for details.

JALIN Merapi (site in Indonesian) had an SMS number in place for emergencies before the Earthquake happened, and it has been in use since immediately after the earthquake. This is what it's all about. A fragile human being capable of communicating to an outside number, through text messaging. They are not alone with such a device; simple communication can provide so much comfort in such circumstances. Hope. And Hope makes a difference.

 I've touched base with one of the administrators over there, but they are understandably busy. Even as supplies make their way into the devastated areas, there are human beings keeping the data flowing.

This is a monumental achievement in my eyes. I've seen similar projects thwarted; to see this brings me a deep joy. The technology is simple. The trouble is, and continues to be, getting people to realize that there is a solution and that they just need to set it up in advance.

On a personal note: Hats off to JALIN Merapi for a job well done, and for helping their community not just through technology, but also through foresight which has not been found in disasters within the past few years. Seeing the idea working, while wonderful, is also a sad moment in that it had to be used.

 



Slightly more tech.

It's simple. It's just SMS->web; I don't know specifically how this group did it - what I do know is that it can be done with an Asterisk server with a few scripts. Honestly, this sort of thing is not expensive to set up. It requires bandwidth, and people to know what the number is to call before the disaster strikes.

 
Dan Lane has already posted something somewhere, I believe, but just picture a content management system - like this site - that receives text messages through an Asterisk server and posts them as they are received - not unlike Blogging with SMS. You just need an advertised phone number, get the software working together (not hard), and let the system sit until it's needed. The hardest part, as I have said until I was looking starved for oxygen, is getting people to know that the number exists.

Any community can set this up. There are so many options available to do it... 

explain the tech

Taran -- how is this done?  Explain, please!

katrin