How volunteers helped in typhoon emergency response

As Typhoon Ruby (international name: Hagupit) threatened and eventually battered the Visayas and surrounding regions in the Philippines recently, volunteers armed with laptops and the passion to serve helped in emergency response work through Rappler’s Project Agos disaster information management platform. They monitored social media for reports of typhoon damage, flooding, local weather, and calls for rescue. The information scoured from social media sites were relayed to disaster coordinators at the Ruby Response cluster command center of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). From there, action officers deployed resources to address critical situations and provide feedback, which volunteers would relay back to those requesting for help via social media, all in real time.

Read the full story on Rappler, and know how you can volunteer the next time a disaster or emergency occurs.