Relief 2.0 Disaster Response model

Relief 2.0 is the practice of running the last mile in the field in disaster response through independent field units supported by mobile technologies and social networks, connecting resources, stakeholders, needs, organizations, volunteers and survivors in an efficient, effective and timely manner, filling the gaps created by bureaucracy and slow response from top-down hierarchies.

It is the result of field experience, the relentless pursuit of committed volunteers to be effective and respond to the requests of disaster survivors and the humane sympathy and empathy of global volunteers who remotely support their operation using mobile phones, community radio, the Internet and social media and networks.

In Relief 2.0 we deploy multidisciplinary and mixed small independent units of locals and foreigners, empowered to assess each situation and make decisions on their own, constantly connected and supported by mobile technologies and a distributed network of contacts which monitors and follows their activities and requests via mobile phones, SMS, twitter feed, blogs and social networks and relays any need they have to others who can in turn relay to others until the needs are fulfilled by someone in a broad network of volunteers, stakeholders and concerned institutions.

As opposed to top-down, rigid chains of command and action, these units form a distributed open network where each member has connections in multiple directions and is willing to hook up to other networks. When confronted with a a problem, each unit solves it with self initiative without waiting to be told what to do, and when unable to do so, relays the need and enables others to help.