NetHope Situation Report 2 — 2013-11-09 Overall Situation The initial reports coming out ofthe worst hit areas paint a dire picture of the situation after Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, crossed the Philippines. At this moment it is currently heading towards Vietnam, having lost some of its strength. The worst…
NetHope Situation Report 1 — 2013-11-08 Situation Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), one of the strongest typhoons this year, continues to maintain strength as it passes over the Philippines. It made initial landfall just before 5 a.m. local time on Friday in Guiuan town, Eastern Samar, about 650 kilometers (403 miles) southeast of Manila. Due to the…
Applying the principles of Lean Methodology to Humanitarian Response The whole humanitarian response system is undergoing a radical shift. We are moving from a top-down model to a bottoms-up survivor-centric model. In this new era, those affected by disasters become the center of focus, rather than the system trying to provide the response. While reading…
One of the critical issues we often face after a disaster is that the communication infrastructure has been affected. Even when cell towers are still standing, the power infrastructure is severely damaged and often it takes days or weeks to restore these terrestrial systems. At the same time the disaster response field is undergoing a significant…
For the past year, we have been advocating for bringing the concepts of open data into the humanitarian space. We have written a number of blog posts, we have spoken at conferences, and we have traveled the world and met with humanitarian organizations, academic organizations, private sector companies, governments, digital volunteer groups and donors. Wherever we go everyone is…
This post was originally published on Markets for Good, an initiative to discover how the social sector can better use and share information to improve outcomes and change lives. Gisli Olafsson is the Emergency Response Director at NetHope, which is leading a large-scale humanitarian data project. The Patterson Foundation is a catalyst funder of the Open Humanitarian Initiative. The…
It is always educational and thought provoking to read Bill Gates annual letters. This year’s letterfocused on the importance of measuring the impact of the work we are doing to make the world a better place. I wholeheartedly agree with my old boss (well technically bosses-bosses-……..-boss) on the aspect that we have to know whether what we are…
Written by Gisli Olafsson on behalf of the Case Foundation: NetHope collaborates with 35 leading international humanitarian organizations to better serve the developing world through innovative technology and communications. Their focus is on five practice areas: Connectivity, Field Capacity Building, Emergency Response, Shared Services, and Innovation for Development. NetHope’s Emergency Response Director Gisli Olafsson writes…
The term “path of a hurricane” is something you often hear in the news, but actually seeing the devastation that these strong winds and heavy rains cause is something you don’t realize until you have visited an area where one has gone through. When that area is a rural area in a developing country, then…
Less than a week has passed since Hurricane Sandy passed over the Caribbean and the US East Coast, leaving a trail of destruction and death behind. Only seven years have passed since Hurricane Katrina, one of the costliest disasters of all times left a similar trail of destruction on the Gulf Coast. Thankfully a lot…