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Table of contents
1 Media Contacts
2 Blog coverage
3 Recommended as a resource by:
4 Media Coverage

Media Contacts

If you are a journalist, please contact any of the following persons:

  • Peter Griffin - zigzackly AT gmail DOT com
  • Dina Mehta - explore AT vsnl DOT com
  • Bala Pitchandi - bala.pitchandi AT gmail DOT com

Blog coverage

  • Another Subcontinent (http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1221&st=0&#)
  • Boingboing (http://www.boingboing.net/2004/12/27/bloggers_in_se_asia_.html) -- A directory of wonderful things.
  • BuzzMachine (http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2004_12_27.html#008741) by Jeff Jarvis.
  • Command Post (http://www.command-post.org/nk/2_archives/018256.html)
  • Dan Gillmor's eJournal (http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/011142.shtml)
  • Google blog (http://www.google.com/googleblog/2004/12/tsunami-relief.html) -- Google's corporate blog.
  • Instapundit (http://instapundit.com/archives/020091.php)
  • Joho The Blog (http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/003507.html) by David Weinberger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weinberger)
  • SepiaMutiny (http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/000855.html)
  • Smartmobs (http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2004/12/27/earthquaketsun.html)
  • Weblogsky (http://www.weblogsky.com/archives/000309.html)
  • WorldChanging (http://www.worldchanging.com/)
  • Yahoo News (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s&u=/asiatsunami_blog/static)

... and more -- see the blog's Technorati Cosmos (http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftsunamihelp.blogspot.com%2F) | Popdex (http://www.popdex.com/c/1067205242) | A special analysis on Intelliseek's Blogpulse (http://tsunami.blogpulse.com/)

Recommended as a resource by:

  • Google - Google Tsunami Relief (http://www.google.com/tsunami_relief.html)
  • BBC News - Asian quake - Missing persons (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4130343.stm) page
  • Time Magazine' - Reading Room: The Tsunami (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1012801,00.html) (a collection of sites with first-person accounts and photos, maps — and how to help)
  • The Guardian's Newsblog Pick of the day (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/pick_of_the_day/2004/12/29/pick_of_the_day_291204.html) on December 29, 2004
SEA-EAT, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog, has fast become the key online clearing site for people to share information and contact details.

Media Coverage

  • Jane Perrone, The coming of age of citizen media (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/12/26/the_coming_of_age_of_citizen_media.html), Guardian Unlimited News blog, December 26, 2005

Perhaps most importantly of all, the TsunamiHelp blog has left a lasting legacy. The model of communication it forged has set the standard for web coverage of subsequent disasters, including Hurricane Katrina (http://katrinahelp.blogspot.com) and the Pakistan earthquake (http://quakehelp.blogspot.com), and many of the TsunamiHelp bloggers have used their expertise to launch similar projects on other disasters. And NGOs and academics are interested in using the TsunamiHelp model as a template for communication during future disasters.

"The point of the Bloggies is to highlight the best blogs around, especially ones that are good but nobody's heard about," said Nikolai Nolan, the University of Michigan senior who created the contest (www.bloggies.com) in 2000.

Honors for most-nominated site go to the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), a finalist in four categories, including Weblog of the Year.

Matching Aid Givers With People in Need

Reportage was not the only function of blogs nor perhaps the most important.

"The more interesting and useful way the Internet has been used is to share information about relief efforts and to help people connect with missing family members," Dube said.

"For example, a dozen Indian bloggers launched an excellent group blog called The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, posting news tidbits and information about resources, aid, donations, and volunteer efforts. It has attracted readers from around the world—people in the region who need help, people elsewhere interested in helping out, and journalists."

  • James Robertson, Internet helps search for victims (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10008353), The New Zealand Herald, January 28, 2004

When Peter Griffin, a Mumbai advertising worker, heard of the tsunami crisis that had struck Asia, his first instinct was to help.

As the beginnings of a massive relief effort were co-ordinated and aid began flowing into affected regions, he realised that the response lacked a vital element - information.

With Paola di Maio, Dina Mehta and a small group of internet contributors, many from tsunami-affected areas, Griffin established SEA-EAT, the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/)

With more than two million visits since it was established this month, it has fast become the online clearinghouse for information and contact details.

The success of Griffin's blog - the word is derived from web log, a constantly updated internet journal, usually run by one person - says much about the way the internet has forever changed the nature of disaster relief.

'At the peak we were getting between 120,000 and 150,000 visitors a day. Someone compared us to ham radio in times of war.

[...]

'The miraculous thing for me was the collaboration. The team that worked on this site just sprang into being. People just mailed us and said, "Hey, I can blog," and we said, "Yeah, jump in!" For the first 15 days, most of us were spending 18 to 20 hours a day online. Now, maybe I'll spend an hour or two.

'We're working on harnessing this collaborative energy. It was a bit of a landmark in internet history. We're trying to figure out whether we can take it further, into something that could spring into action next time it's required.'


  • Dina Mehta, SEA-EAT blogger, was interviewed (http://tsunami-blog.zdf.de/2005/01/sea-eat-bloggerin-wir-leben-in-einer.html) by Wolfgang Harrer (http://tsunami-blog.zdf.de) for German television ZDF (http://www.heute.de/ZDFheute)'s Tsunami-Blog -- listen online: mp3 (http://tsunami-blog.zdf.de/audios/zdftsunami_110105_SEAEAT.mp3) (4.6 MB), RealAudio (http://tsunami-blog.zdf.de/audios/seaeat.ram), January 11, 2005

Peter Griffin, a blogger and writer from Mumbai, India set up a blog just hours after news of the disaster reached him. Two other bloggers, Rohit Gupta and Dina Mehta, also in Mumbai, helped him put the information in place. And very soon after, the blogging community around the world rallied to set up what has now become South-east Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/) (SEA-EAT). This is among the best online resources about the tsunami, with information on the latest news in every region, a missing persons page that makes innovative use of a free, blog-like photo-sharing tool and links to relief efforts.

For the first time, hundreds of ordinary people produced powerful coverage of a huge news event, along with traditional media. This army of citizen journalists continues to grow, connecting those who want to help with those who need it.

  • Bobbie Johnson, Emergency services (http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1383611,00.html?gusrc=rss), Guardian Online, January 6, 2005
Within a few hours of the quake, users were logging on to communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia and compiling a breakdown of what had occurred, including scientific analysis, links to news articles and ways to give aid. Online retailer Amazon organised a huge fundraising effort, with users donating more than $9m (£4.7m) to the American Red Cross in the first week alone. Bloggers signed up to keep information running at the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), created in response to the disaster.
  • Gouri Chatterjee, Blogging unlimited (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050106/asp/opinion/story_4216857.asp), The Telegraph - Calcutta - Opinion, January 6, 2005

Peter Griffin doesn’t know what to say. He is of course enormously pleased at the success of the blog he and his friends started simply to do something to help (and hence called tsunamihelp.blogspot). He is equally embarrassed at the sudden celebrity status it has brought them.

They had expected, at best, a thousand visitors or so. They have had around a million in the eight days or so since they began posting news and helpline numbers and information on missing people and relief requirements and related links that so many evidently wanted but didn’t know whom to ask.

It has meant Griffin and his friends having to work round the clock, putting day jobs on hold. It has also led to so many more in different parts of the world coming to their aid that has been quite overwhelming. And it has shown the possibilities of the blog as never before.

“The Baghdad blogger showed us the way,” Griffin said in his gentle way. “In 9/11 there were individual bloggings, people telling friends they were fine. But this is the first time that people around the world have hopped in, collaborating.” This is a movement without borders that can only grow. Something the old media, print or television, will never be able to match.

The web not only gave us real-time news of the gigantic waves' destruction, but also pushed us to help the survivors.

[...] it is encouraging to see Internet-mediated help going deeper. A blog sprang up after the disaster, The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), which not only linked readers to groups that needed money, but also served as a clearinghouse between relief organizations and those eager to volunteer. For instance, a Brazilian biologist with forensic experience offered to go and help identify victims, if someone could only tell him how. Though this blog was up only a few days it accounted for 2% of total Internet traffic to charitable and humanitarian sites in the week ended January 1, according to Hitwise, an Internet analysis service.

The web gives people an amazing array of outlets to receive information about disasters and respond to them, and it does much, much more. It demands that response. That's because the Internet makes the response as visible as the tragedy.

According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, the market share of U.S. visits to humanitarian Web sites skyrocketed 180 percent the week ending Jan. 1, 2005 versus the prior week. Humanitarian sites peaked on Dec. 30, 2004, when visits accounted for .096 percent of all daily Internet traffic.[...]

The blog site Tsunami Help (tsunamihelp.blogspot.com) was the 10th most visited site in the Humanitarian Category, indicating that blogging is capable of expanding its influence into the realm of online fundraising. This site experienced an increase in market share of visits by 1,926 percent between Dec. 27 and Dec. 31, 2004.

An Indian Web log that aims to aid tsunami survivors has reported 1.1 million hits within 10 days of its launch, in a country where blogging is still in its infancy.

The site, called the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), or SEA-EAT, helps people reunite with their families and aims to bring aid to regions hit by the earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26.

Several foreigners lost in the tragedy have been reunited with their families in the United States and United Kingdom after they posted their information and photos on the blog, Mehta said.

The Web log has attracted 50 contributors from affected regions as well as Europe and the United States.

"The blog was initiated by a group of us in Mumbai, but it has very rapidly spread to all corners of the world," Mehta said.

  • Devangshu Datta, The new relief networks (http://www.business-standard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=177351), Business Standard, India, January 6, 2005

Much of the time, blogging is a ... self-indulgent exercise.

But it creates global networks. And blogger networks working in tandem created communications history after the tsunami. In particular, one blog (Tsunami Help, at http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com) has been a trailblazer that shows an evolving model for remotely coordinating disaster relief efforts.

Tsunami Help was established by three bloggers in Mumbai. It is germane to note that none of these people have ever met. They contacted their own personal blogger networks and created chain effects. The core “team” grew to over 200 volunteers.

In the eight days since the tsunami, the site has processed well over a million visitors. In order to understand what the blog platform provides, it is necessary to understand how the Net leverages information.

The medium may be new but the impulse is timeless. When Peter Griffin, a communications consultant and writer, heard of the tsunami on December 26, his first instinct was to "pack my bags and rush." But he stayed on in Mumbai, setting up the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog. The blog has got over a million visits through Tuesday, creating a piece of net history.

For a blog that’s basically a website containing personal journals with links, about 5,000 visits a month is considered respectable. Anything over 500,000 a month and you are a star. In about 10 days, SEA-EAT has become a clearing house of information. It hosts news, helpline numbers, information on missing people and instructions. "There’s huge public goodwill but people don’t know what exactly to do," says Griffin, in Delhi for a couple of days.

An army of bloggers have been riding the tsunami wave of no information and just might be the digital wave of the future

Mumbai-based Dina Mehta, a determined contributor to Sea-Eat, told Asia Times Online: "I think we are a working model for the future - not just restricted to disasters and relief programs, but designed to change the way people communicate, collaborate and organize for work or play. Across corporations and media. And they are listening."<p> <p>Sea-Eat's statistics are available by clicking on a small button at the bottom of the right panel of the blog, the "site meter". At 4pm in Thailand on Tuesday, it registered 933,588 visits and 1,166,131 page views. It was launched on Monday after the tsunami hit.

Après les premiers écrits, puis les photographies, les vidéos amateurs prolifèrent sur les blogs. Mais de nombreux bloggeurs mettent l'accent sur la solidarité entre habitants et victimes, à l'image de Fred qui vit à Jaffna au Sri Lanka (http://thiswayplease.com/ex...) ou du portail http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com. [..]

Dans la blogosphère, quelques grands sites drainent de l'audience, comme par exemple http://tsunamimissing.blogspot.com qui diffuse des avis de recherche, photos à l'appui, répertoriés par pays.

When the killer tsunamis surged over Asian coastlines Sunday, communications consultant Peter Griffin struggled with how he could help from his home in Mumbai, India.

The result was the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog, a Web site that has evolved into one of the most visited and important clearinghouses of information on the Internet about the epic tragedy. The site, which had nearly 270,000 hits through Thursday, is now run by dozens of volunteers and offers up-to-date news, hotline numbers and relief efforts details.<p> <p>"What I was trying to do was put a candle in my window and say I'm trying to help," said Griffin, who started the site with help from blogger friends, some of whom he has never met. "If we can help get aid to one person, then we've done our jobs."

Mehta, along with two of her friends, put up a web page dubbed as South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami (SEA-EAT) within a few hours of the calamity.

"Initially, we launched it just to spread information about tsunami but soon it became a virtual movement across many countries as the magnitude of the tragedy began to unfold," Mehta told IANS.

"Now the blog has become a comprehensive online resource for relief and rehabilitation measures with more and more people getting to know how they can contribute to help the tsunami victims," she added.

The SEA-EAT blog not only carries regularly updated reports on the prevailing situation in the tsunami-hit countries but also has a comprehensive list of voluntary organisations helping in rescue and rehabilitation works.

The web page answers crucial queries related to giving donations and joining volunteering efforts. It also lists important contacts of government and non-government agencies in the tsunami-hit regions. [...]

"The number of people in India and as far as in the US and Britain donating to voluntary agencies through SEA-EAT is increasing everyday. I think this online resource will become a model for the future," said Mehta.

According to Mehta, the SEA-EAT blog is a completely voluntary initiative with people who want to contribute deciding what role they want to play, and organising themselves to work in round-the-clock shifts to update information.

Meanwhile, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami site (SEA-EAT) blog has become a clearinghouse for disaster relief.

Peter Griffin, a writer and blogger living in Bombay came up with the idea. Rohit Gupta is one of three bloggers working on the site.

"We're getting out information that traditional media has not access to," Gupta told Information Week. "Certain areas have been cordoned off to traditional media by the Tamil Tigers," he said.

The site has 50 contributors from around the world and has had more than 100,000 visitors in the past few days.

For most blogs, 1,000 daily page views is considered fairly busy. Now, organizers are working to keep up with growth and demand.

Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.

"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.

"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."

Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.

"Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says.

Soon after the tsunami struck on Sunday, a group of online friends created the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog, an online journal with a plethora of links about how to help affected countries through financial and clothing donations to various charities.

Joint creator Ankit Gupta, from New Delhi, believes the internet is the ideal tool in times of crisis.

"The internet, reasonably reliable and fast, is not used by authorities or rescue services to communicate, despite the fact it has been up without interruption during the entire crisis," he said.

As well as aid information, the blog also provides designated sections for people missing in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, and also allows readers to email and SMS tsunami-related updates from remote areas of these countries.

A group of people in Bombay, India, started a blog, tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, to list contact numbers, addresses and links for those interested in helping.

"We give them the whole resources, avenues to contribute, volunteer," said Dina Mehta, a 37-year-old consultant.

The site also provides a place for readers to post messages and replies about those missing. And it has contributors from across the disaster zone, including one in Sri Lanka who updates by sending text messages from his cell phone.

  • Matt Moore, Survivor search turns to the web (http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11810407%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html), AustralianIT News, Dec 30 2004

One site, http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, posted a spot for messages about the missing, updates on the disaster or emergency contact numbers.

The board, opened by several bloggers from Bombay, India, has contributors from around the south Asian quake zone, including one in Sri Lanka who sends updates via mobile phone, consultant Dina Mehta said.

"We're not really doing the relief work. It's just intended to be a house for all resources, so people don't have to run around looking everywhere," she said.

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog has more information plus links to a variety of disaster related resources including Tsunamiforum.org where survivors and those looking for loved ones can come together.

The founders of the virtual rescue centres such as SEA-EAT are not surprised that people are turning to the Net, with its instantly and succinctly published information offering everything from contact numbers of consulates to details of how to get a portable toilet. "The Internet is being used more and more by the families of victims because it is faster and the communication is much more effective," said Ankit Gupta, one of SEA-EAT's volunteers based in New Delhi. "One always comes across red tape no matter what in our third world countries."

Ms. Di Maio said governments and aid agencies could use the web far more. "The Internet, reasonably reliable and fast, is not used by authorities nor rescue services to communicate, despite the fact that it has been up without interruption during the entire crisis. Governments and authorities should use the Internet as we do. Costs would be lower and results much better coordinated."

Another online volunteer, Bala Pitchandi, stayed up until midnight at his home in New Jersey in the U.S. helping to publish information on SEA-EAT. "Blogging is such a powerful tool since it can be used by ordinary people like me to publish views and news," he said. "Dozens of volunteers who have never met have gotten together to start this blog and many of the contributors are there at the scene of tragedy to help the world know what's really going on. Traditional news outlets have to be 'politically correct', but blogs are honest and true to the word."

Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.

"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.

"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."

Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.

"Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says.

  • SEA-EAT bloggers Rohit Gupta and Dina Mehta were interviewed by Clark Boyd, BBC, for The World (http://theworld.org/), a co-production of BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH Boston - listen online (http://www.theworld.org/content/12293.wma) (Windows Media, 1 MB) - January 29, 2005
Immédiatement après le tsunami, les blogs ont multiplé les ressources, les photos et les témoignages en provenance des pays touchés par la catastrophe.
One of the best sites out there is the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog set up by students from New Delhi, a Sri Lankan TV producer and Internet junkies in the region. It offers everything from fascinating tsunami facts to emergency contact numbers to humanitarian relief organizations.

While the government is still slow with publicising details of how people can help those affected by tsunamis that hit south India on Sunday morning, bloggers in India and elsewhere seem to be doing their bit.

Some like this one (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), are educating potential donors and volunteers on the options before them. Notably, it does not focus on India alone.

The tsunami in Phuket left Paola di Maio with little more than four litres of water but, crucially, an internet connection. As the information systems designer and her friends helped with the rescue effort while helicopters buzzed overhead, she realised that one thing was missing: information.

Together with Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, and a small band of other internet enthusiasts in the region, including students from New Delhi and a TV producer in Sri Lanka, Ms Di Maio set up SEA-EAT, the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog. Visited by 21,000 people yesterday, it has fast become the key online clearing house for people to share information and contact details.

A group of people in Bombay, India, started a blog, http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, to list contact numbers, addresses and links for those interested in helping.

"We give them the whole resources, avenues to contribute, volunteer," said Dina Mehta, a 37-year-old consultant.

The site also provides a place for readers to post messages and replies about those missing. And it has contributors from across the disaster zone, including one in Sri Lanka who updates by sending text messages from his cell phone.

At tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, the scattered relief effort worldwide shrinks into one crowded user-friendly forum. Here are appeals for relief workers in Sri Lanka scrambling to collect milk powder for 80,000 families, 25,000 tents, 100,000 mats and 500,000 water purification tablets; appeals to attend a tsunami aid collection drive for Indian victims behind Tekka Mall in Singapore; hospitals in Phuket pleading for shoes, shorts and T-shirts, in sizes large enough for foreigners.

Souvent conçus comme des forums politiques ou des carnets intimes, les blogs sont devenus des acteurs de premier plan après le raz-de-marée. Ils ont notamment ouvert leurs pages à des témoignages souvent poignants et ultra-réalistes.

Les blogs avaient déjà montré leur efficacité lors des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 ou de l'accident de la navette spatiale américaine. Mais l'ampleur du phénomène semble s'être encore accrue et globalisée, avec cette fois-ci l'explosion des blogs asiatiques. Ainsi, tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, monté en quelques heures par une trentaine de bloggeurs de la région: Ajay, étudiant indien de 22 ans, Bala, ingénieur informatique installé dans le New Jersey, Samit, jeune écrivain de Calcutta. Ce site incite les bloggeurs à se porter volontaires pour organiser des mises à jour constantes, relaie les appels à la générosité du Premier ministre indien, des ONG.

  • Blogger witnessed bodies washed away, Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada), December 29, 2004
  • Making Donations, St. Petersburg Times, December 29, 2004
  • Harnessing the Web to deal with disaster, UPI, December 29, 2004
Ainsi, "http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, monte en quelques heures par une trentaine de bloggeurs de la region: Ajay, etudiant indien de 22 ans, Bala, ingenieur informatique installe dans le New Jersey, Samit, jeune ecrivain de Calcutta. Le site incite les bloggeurs a se porter volontaires pour organiser des mises a jour constantes, relaie les appels a la generosite du Premier ministre indien, des ONG.
Three bloggers in Bombay set up tsunamihelp.blogspot.com soon after the waves hit on Sunday, as a clearinghouse for disaster relief. Days later, the blog has 50 contributors and 100,000 visitors, and the organizers are working hard to keep up with growth and demand.</p>

Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.

"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.

"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."

Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.

"Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says.

Soon after the tsunami struck on Sunday, a group of online friends created the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog, an online journal with a plethora of links about how to help affected countries through financial and clothing donations to various charities.

Joint creator Ankit Gupta, from New Delhi, believes the internet is the ideal tool in times of crisis.

"The internet, reasonably reliable and fast, is not used by authorities or rescue services to communicate, despite the fact it has been up without interruption during the entire crisis," he said.

As well as aid information, the blog also provides designated sections for people missing in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, and also allows readers to email and SMS tsunami-related updates from remote areas of these countries.

A group of people in Bombay, India, started a blog, tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, to list contact numbers, addresses and links for those interested in helping.

"We give them the whole resources, avenues to contribute, volunteer," said Dina Mehta, a 37-year-old consultant.

The site also provides a place for readers to post messages and replies about those missing. And it has contributors from across the disaster zone, including one in Sri Lanka who updates by sending text messages from his cell phone.

  • Matt Moore, Survivor search turns to the web (http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11810407%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html), AustralianIT News, Dec 30 2004

One site, http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, posted a spot for messages about the missing, updates on the disaster or emergency contact numbers.

The board, opened by several bloggers from Bombay, India, has contributors from around the south Asian quake zone, including one in Sri Lanka who sends updates via mobile phone, consultant Dina Mehta said.

"We're not really doing the relief work. It's just intended to be a house for all resources, so people don't have to run around looking everywhere," she said.

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog has more information plus links to a variety of disaster related resources including Tsunamiforum.org where survivors and those looking for loved ones can come together.

The founders of the virtual rescue centres such as SEA-EAT are not surprised that people are turning to the Net, with its instantly and succinctly published information offering everything from contact numbers of consulates to details of how to get a portable toilet. "The Internet is being used more and more by the families of victims because it is faster and the communication is much more effective," said Ankit Gupta, one of SEA-EAT's volunteers based in New Delhi. "One always comes across red tape no matter what in our third world countries."

Ms. Di Maio said governments and aid agencies could use the web far more. "The Internet, reasonably reliable and fast, is not used by authorities nor rescue services to communicate, despite the fact that it has been up without interruption during the entire crisis. Governments and authorities should use the Internet as we do. Costs would be lower and results much better coordinated."

Another online volunteer, Bala Pitchandi, stayed up until midnight at his home in New Jersey in the U.S. helping to publish information on SEA-EAT. "Blogging is such a powerful tool since it can be used by ordinary people like me to publish views and news," he said. "Dozens of volunteers who have never met have gotten together to start this blog and many of the contributors are there at the scene of tragedy to help the world know what's really going on. Traditional news outlets have to be 'politically correct', but blogs are honest and true to the word."

Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.

"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.

"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."

Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.

"Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says.

  • SEA-EAT bloggers Rohit Gupta and Dina Mehta were interviewed by Clark Boyd, BBC, for The World (http://theworld.org/), a co-production of BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH Boston - listen online (http://www.theworld.org/content/12293.wma) (Windows Media, 1 MB) - January 29, 2005
Immédiatement après le tsunami, les blogs ont multiplé les ressources, les photos et les témoignages en provenance des pays touchés par la catastrophe.
One of the best sites out there is the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog set up by students from New Delhi, a Sri Lankan TV producer and Internet junkies in the region. It offers everything from fascinating tsunami facts to emergency contact numbers to humanitarian relief organizations.

While the government is still slow with publicising details of how people can help those affected by tsunamis that hit south India on Sunday morning, bloggers in India and elsewhere seem to be doing their bit.

Some like this one (http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com), are educating potential donors and volunteers on the options before them. Notably, it does not focus on India alone.

The tsunami in Phuket left Paola di Maio with little more than four litres of water but, crucially, an internet connection. As the information systems designer and her friends helped with the rescue effort while helicopters buzzed overhead, she realised that one thing was missing: information.

Together with Dina Mehta, Peter Griffin, and a small band of other internet enthusiasts in the region, including students from New Delhi and a TV producer in Sri Lanka, Ms Di Maio set up SEA-EAT, the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami weblog. Visited by 21,000 people yesterday, it has fast become the key online clearing house for people to share information and contact details.

A group of people in Bombay, India, started a blog, http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, to list contact numbers, addresses and links for those interested in helping.

"We give them the whole resources, avenues to contribute, volunteer," said Dina Mehta, a 37-year-old consultant.

The site also provides a place for readers to post messages and replies about those missing. And it has contributors from across the disaster zone, including one in Sri Lanka who updates by sending text messages from his cell phone.

At tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, the scattered relief effort worldwide shrinks into one crowded user-friendly forum. Here are appeals for relief workers in Sri Lanka scrambling to collect milk powder for 80,000 families, 25,000 tents, 100,000 mats and 500,000 water purification tablets; appeals to attend a tsunami aid collection drive for Indian victims behind Tekka Mall in Singapore; hospitals in Phuket pleading for shoes, shorts and T-shirts, in sizes large enough for foreigners.

Souvent conçus comme des forums politiques ou des carnets intimes, les blogs sont devenus des acteurs de premier plan après le raz-de-marée. Ils ont notamment ouvert leurs pages à des témoignages souvent poignants et ultra-réalistes.

Les blogs avaient déjà montré leur efficacité lors des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 ou de l'accident de la navette spatiale américaine. Mais l'ampleur du phénomène semble s'être encore accrue et globalisée, avec cette fois-ci l'explosion des blogs asiatiques. Ainsi, tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, monté en quelques heures par une trentaine de bloggeurs de la région: Ajay, étudiant indien de 22 ans, Bala, ingénieur informatique installé dans le New Jersey, Samit, jeune écrivain de Calcutta. Ce site incite les bloggeurs à se porter volontaires pour organiser des mises à jour constantes, relaie les appels à la générosité du Premier ministre indien, des ONG.

  • Blogger witnessed bodies washed away, Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada), December 29, 2004
  • Making Donations, St. Petersburg Times, December 29, 2004
  • Harnessing the Web to deal with disaster, UPI, December 29, 2004
Ainsi, "http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com, monte en quelques heures par une trentaine de bloggeurs de la region: Ajay, etudiant indien de 22 ans, Bala, ingenieur informatique installe dans le New Jersey, Samit, jeune ecrivain de Calcutta. Le site incite les bloggeurs a se porter volontaires pour organiser des mises a jour constantes, relaie les appels a la generosite du Premier ministre indien, des ONG.
Three bloggers in Bombay set up tsunamihelp.blogspot.com soon after the waves hit on Sunday, as a clearinghouse for disaster relief. Days later, the blog has 50 contributors and 100,000 visitors, and the organizers are working hard to keep up with growth and demand.
South Asian bloggers created tsunamihelp.blogspot.com to direct people to aid organizations. "I haven't seen this level of people saying, 'You know what? We can do something here. We can connect the pieces,' " said Alex Steffen, who lives in Seattle and edits worldchanging.com. "It's mind-blowing, and it's inspiring."
  • Jonathan Dube, Bloggers launch Asia tragedy blog (http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/001803.php), CyberJournalist.net, The Media Center at the American Press Institute, December 27
A dozen Indian bloggers launched an excellent group blog today called The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, posting news tidbits and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts. The updates are frequent, and the info very useful. These are bloggers. This is journalism. Raw, unedited, but still journalism.
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