Hurricane Sandy & Twitter: Test of the Shoulder Angel

Due to the awesome prowess of Hurricane Sandy which last week tore apart much of the Eastern Seaboard, we have seen a fresh and tantalising new glimpse into the full potential of where Twitter and Social Media can be taken.

Although using the medium as a matter for emergency is nothing new (Demi Moore of all people brought to attention the plight of a mentally unstable lady back in 2009), the vast scale of the hurricane and the sheer amount of people that it affected certainly put a push on the boundaries of possibility.

Taking a glimpse into the heart of the storm, the New York City Fire Department found itself responding to cries of help not through their much abused phone lines, but from Twitter. On the other end of the keyboard was 35-year old Emily Rahimi, speaking to CNN, she said:

“You could see the panic and fear in the words that they were typing. People were so scared they were reaching out to anyone they thought might listen.”

Through the height of the storm, which saw 8 million people without power, New York dispatches were receiving a total of 20,000 calls per hour. Though this is nothing compared to the 10 million people that tried to call New Orleans at the same time in 2005; the people in New York were encouraged to text dispatches instead of phoning.

Through the Twitter account of the New York City Fire Department, Rahimi was therefore able to keep in touch with 53,000 people and actually direct people away from the rising waters which were seen surging through the streets of the city.

One tweet to the department read:

“My sis family at 58^th St155-22 Howard Beach Queens Bach Queens NY 11414, water rising 12 ft need help. 1 floor drowned, kids scared.”

Dispatch were notified.

Though we are pretty certain that a hurricane (at least of that scale) will not threaten the shores of the United Kingdom in the foreseeable future, how are the UK police services also making use of Twitter?

The answer is, very well.

Although the emergency services have not yet been in a situation where they have had to turn to their social accounts in aid of a national disaster, they have proven brilliant resources for the spreading and retrieving of information.

Besides one significant hiccup in March of this year when officers in Bolton forgot to tell a mother that her missing girl had been found safe – deciding instead to post it on Twitter – the emergency services are making brilliant use of the free resources around them.

You only have to look into the London riots where a number of individuals were caught on Twitter and Flickr having rioted their way through the streets of the capital.

It is interesting to think that when the introduction of CCTV was unveiled, the system was bemoaned by critics who suggested that their implementation was nothing more than a country spying on its citizens. In the 21^st century however, it seems that citizens are very happy spying on themselves.

This aside, one force in particular has been making great use of their Social Media accounts.

During the height of the London Olympics, known to some as ‘the first social Olympics’, Surrey Police were able to monitor over 120 searches, respond to over 400 questions and were retweeted over 2,500 times:

In an event that is designed to spread happiness (and money), it is nice to see that their most retweeted message simply stated:

“Lost: 1 pair lucky Oakley Sunglasses. Owner: @L_ArmiTstead. If found, please hand them in. She’d like them back for the #TimeTrial on Weds”

For those who are unaware, @L_ArmiTstead is the British professional track and road racing cyclist.

She went on to win one silver medal.

Though there is no physical evidence to prove that Surrey Police’s retrieval of the spectacles had anything to do with her medal; it is nice to see a police force affording time to retrieve a pair of sunglasses and not instead having to save its citizens from one of the largest natural disasters to ever face the country; for that we can be glad.