ABSTRACT
Chapter Objectives ◾ To analyze the challenges of implementation and integration of social media
into national models of emergency management and response ◾ To de„ne crowdsourcing within the context of its application to emergency
and disaster response ◾ To analyze the impact of virtual volunteers in disaster crowdsourcing ◾ To evaluate the impact of organizational and citizen crowdsourcing during
emergencies and disasters ◾ To understand the use of geospatial display systems with crowdsourcing
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What Is Crowdsourcing? In the simplest terms, crowdsourcing is the utilization of a collection of individuals to address a problem or challenge that would not be possible by the individual parts. e collection of individuals constituting the “crowd” can provide a superior collection of various capabilities, including knowledge, skills, abilities, equipment, resources, time, and infrastructure. ese capabilities exist as physical, social, and economic collectives that far exceed individual or common capabilities and thus add
DISASTER FOCUS-CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE
At 12:51 p.m. (local time) on February 22, 2011, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. e earthquake was centered approximately one mile west of the town of Lyttelton and six miles southeast of the center of Christchurch (New Zealand’s second-largest city). e earthquake caused 181 deaths, making it the second-deadliest natural disaster on record for New Zealand (after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake). Insurance experts estimated that the earthquake resulted in $12 million (NZ $16 million) in damage. (See Figure 11.1) Moreover, this earthquake came six months after the 7.1 magnitude 2010 Canterbury earthquake that impacted the region but had no related fatalities. e February 2011 earthquake was dišerent from the previous earthquake because it occurred during lunchtime when local commerce was high and many buildings had increased occupancy. In addition, many buildings were already weakened from the 2010 earthquake and were signi„cantly impacted by the high liquefaction of local soils that caused signi„cant ground movement. is geological phenomenon resulted in damage to 80% of local water and sewer systems as well as approximately 200,000 tons of upturned silt.3 Because of the widespread impact to localized infrastructure, crowdsourcing played a signi„- cant role in supplementing resources, personnel, and situational awareness. Speci„cally, within one hour of the disaster, a CrisisCommons Community Working Group established a collaborative editing site and launched an event instance on Crowdmap.com in partnership with local emergency managers. Crowdsourcing volunteers quickly divided themselves into four simultaneous functional groups: situational awareness, crisis coordination and emergency response, technical migration (to more robust systems), and volunteer plan and management. e number of volunteers and the complexity of their available tools grew exponentially, with a fully integrated crowdsourcing disaster map (eq.org.nz) being launched within six hours of the earthquake.4 e site received feedback on a plethora of disaster-related issues, including disaster survivor assistance in acquiring maintenance medications and identi„cation of places to purchase food and gasoline.4
