Social media lifeline thrown to victims of floods in India

TECH enthusiasts across India joined hands to help those left stranded by deadly flooding in the southern city of Chennai, using social media to crowd-source information to supply food, top-up cellphone credits and offer refuge. Incessant rainfall in India’s fourth most-populous city has cut off more than three million people from basic services and disrupted power supplies, with the authorities under fire for slow relief and rescue operations. Volunteers and companies have responded by using online tools such as Google documents and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to organise their own crisis response, with some setting up dedicated online resources to help others in need. “We are passing rescue requests to government officials and local people,” Krish Ashok, part of a team running , which lists verified details of those offering shelter, water and clothing, said.

The Indian military has struggled to evacuate thousands of residents stranded in and around Chennai. Heavy rains in Tamil Nadu state have killed 269 people and critically injured another 1 000. Mobile and internet services, though intermittent, have become the key mode of communication between those offering and seeking aid in the coastal IT outsourcing hub. Practo, a company that connects patients to doctors, issued a Google document with a list of 57 doctors available for consultation. While 18 000 people have been evacuated from rooftops and outlying villages, many remain in dire need of basic supplies. Ola, India’s leading online taxi firm, which worked with fishermen and professional rowers last week to coordinate boat rescues, said it was running temporary homes that had been equipped with relief supplies.