Foundation launches free information service for Haiti quake disaster

To register, survivors subscribing to the Digicell network, largest in the Caribbean, text their location to the SMS shortcode 4636. By return, up to date, reliable, actionable information in French and Creole will be sent to them wherever they are in Haiti, helping them to reach shelter, aid and loved ones. The service will cost them nothing.

The service also acts as a news and information gathering mechanism, whereby survivors can report information directly into the Foundation’s new Emergency Information Service team of specialist journalists. The EIS team will collate this information and it will by made available to agencies, emergency teams and local media.

People outside Haiti and the quake zone can register their loved ones' mobile phone numbers on their behalf. The SMS shortcode is dependent on local telecommunications infrastructure; if the infrastructure fails, the local SMS service will not work.

The EIS also aims to get critical information to survivors via local media, especially radio. The Foundation already has a team of expert humanitarian journalists in Haiti to collect and disseminate information.

Foundation chief executive Monique Villa said: "In times of major natural catastrophes, information itself is aid, as crucial as shelter or blankets. All forms of communication in Haiti have been impaired and the EIS team will help fill the communication void providing reliable, actionable information to the disaster affected population.”

The Emergency Information Service is a first service of its kind, launched by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in December 2009. The EIS will be deployed when major natural disasters strike communities around the world, leaving them with no reliable communication infrastructure. EIS Action-Units will be deployed within hours of a disaster and upon arrival in the disaster zone will seek out, collate and disseminate life-saving information to disaster-hit populations. ■