How you can support people stranded in the Nepal earthquake

The Blue Yonder offers some advice and assistance

Irrespective of the limited space and congestion in the Nation’s airport, relief agencies are landing one after the other into Kathmandu. Writes Gopi Parayil, social entrepreneur of Tour Operator the Blue Yonder

However many like Jyothi Puri in The Guardian article above,  is not even aware of relief happening elsewhere. She is stranded seeking support. As compassionate human beings, we are all wanting to support those in distress. Relief agencies are also doing their best within their constraints. We read about heroes saving lives, we see helicopters distributing blankets, food and goodies to cheering crowd.

Unfortunately this is far from ground reality. As you read this, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told Reuters  that the death toll could reach 10,000, as information of damage from far-flung villages and towns has yet to come in.

You might be surprised, but this is exactly where you and I can help. Not by parachuting into the disaster zones with supplies for people like Jyoti, but by sitting where you are now. Whether you are in San Jose, or in London or Paris or in a small town like Pondicherry in India, as long as there’s decent internet connectivity, you can change the lives of many. Literally!

Nepal has been ravaged by the most devastating Earthquake to hit the country in recent memory. As rescue personnel struggle with hostile weather conditions, the death toll keeps mounting. While this, like any other disaster has acted like a key to the humanity in the global community’s hearts, the zeal and tenacity that has been on display needs to be better directed. You and I can ensure that relief agencies can find the route to reach where they should reach. Irrespective of material support and technical know how in search and rescue, what good is this knowledge if they can’t identify the disaster zone and reach there in time. YES! We are running out of TIME! Rescue phase will not last for ever. We need to help these professionals and volunteers reach people like 13 year old Jyoti

Join Open Street Map Volunteers Now!

All around the world, close to two thousand online volunteers (like you and I) are helping trace, map disaster zones. Volunteers from Kathmandu Living Labs , Ground Truth Initiative, USA and MapBox in Bangalore in India are assisting and leading people like us to map Nepal! However this isn’t enough! We need more people like you. Hundreds and Thousands and Ten Thousands of Crowd Sourced information has to be plotted as quickly as possible so that we can reduce the suffering of those in the disaster zone. Luckily, it’s no rocket science and these easy to use tools can be learnt within 15 minutes.  My colleagues who use internet only to email and facebook are now part of a committed team who are mapping Nepal so that we can ensure a speedy recovery of a beautiful country.

A lot of the affected areas in Nepal are without any usable maps. This poses a huge problem for rescue teams as they are left with close to no directions to guide their operations. This is especially true for villages in more remote areas. For example, Swarathok village in the hilly district of Sindhupalchowk, has been completely decimated by the Earthquake, however, owing to lack of access and visibility, they have also been isolated from any sort of aid. This is exactly where Mapping can help. If the rescue teams are provided with locations of these remote settlements along with routes leading to them, such isolation crises can easily be averted. What is more, is that this can be done from the comfort of your own homes, thus not adding to the confusion caused by large number of volunteers arriving on site.

How Can You Contribute?

Open Street Map  is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. In simpler terms, what wikipedia is to information, OSM is to maps. it allows to add, edit or remove content on to maps. Using Satellite imagery as a guide, users may simply trace paths, settlements or waterways, thus creating maps of various locations. Humanitarian Open Street Map Team has organised a list of tasks, arranged in a descending order of priority. Each task has certain objectives to be mapped, and users may contribute by following instructions on each task.

For those who would like to map for Nepal from the comfort of your home,
check this link

Gopi Parayil

Gopi runs The Blue Yonder

Interested in jumping out of the tourism box and moving to a world beyond commodity tourism? Envision a world beyond tourism