[Chapter-delegates] Fwd: [GKD] Updates About the Katrina Relief Effort

[Alan Levin]

Hi,

I thought this was a useful article fyi....
It makes me wonder how the relationship works in other geographies  
between ISPA(s) and ISOC chapters?
(In ISOC-ZA, we have a loose friendly relationship and we encourage  
collaboration but nothing has really materialized, other than we end  
up talking at their conferences)

regards,

Alan



Begin forwarded message:

> From: Ken DiPietro <ken at new-isp.net>
> Date: 03 October 2005 7:24:06 PM
> To: gkd at phoenix.edc.org
> Subject: [GKD] Updates About the Katrina Relief Effort
> Reply-To: gkd at milhouse.edc.org
>
>
> Dear Moderator, (et al)
>
> It is certainly nice to have you back.
>
> With respect to the Katrina disaster I would like to shamelessly plug
> the efforts that the WISP (Wireless ISP) community have undertaken. We
> had four members of WISPA that were wiped out in the disaster.  
> Within 36
> hours of the storm letting up we had volunteers on the ground, with
> equipment in hand, getting these networks back up. I know of several
> people that dropped what they were doing, loaded up their own  
> trucks or
> rental trucks with food and equipment and drove out to help. If you  
> are
> interested, you can read more on WISPA, the non-profit association  
> that
> organized this effort here: <http://wispa.org/>
>
> There are some very candid photos posted by members of our group from
> the area located here:
> http://flickr.com/photos/tags/katrinawireless/?page=1
>
> At this time there is a network that stretches from Gulf Port,
> Mississippi all the way to Pearlington, Mississippi with spurs
> connecting evacuee shelters all along the way. This has been done  
> solely
> by contributions from our little group and with ZERO federal help. We
> managed to secure quite a few VoIP boxes as a donation, which has
> allowed people in these shelters to get in touch with friends and
> family. This service has now been extended across the entire  
> network and
> I am reliably told we currently see several thousand telephone  
> calls per
> day across this network - all at no cost to the evacuees.
>
> There is a another wireless network that connects Mac Dearman's
> headquarters to several other shelters. For more information please
> visit the site Mac (see next paragraph and the associated article) put
> together which provides a running commentary about what the group has
> done and is continuing to do.
> http://www.radioresponse.org/
>
> You might want to quickly read the comments here:
> http://www.radioresponse.org/wordpress/?p=37#comments
>
> If you have a chance please read the article published in the  
> Washington
> Post discussing more of Mac Dearman's efforts. To put this in
> perspective, Mac is a retired police officer who runs a WISP and is  
> also
> a minister in Rayville, Louisiana. He has taken in people into his own
> home, found shelter for well over a thousand others while opening  
> up his
> wireless network to everyone he could. One thing that Mac didn't make
> public is that he did all of this with a broken leg!
> <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/08/ 
> AR200509080
> 2058_pf.html>
>
> Turning to first responder communications, I am now working for a
> company that is tackling this problem in several different areas. I am
> not at liberty to discuss this in an open forum but if there is anyone
> who would like to visit our facility and take the full tour, I'm  
> sure I
> can arrange for all of your questions to be answered. We are located
> roughly a two hour drive from Washington DC and I would be thrilled if
> you all would pay us a visit.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Ken DiPietro
> Wireless without compromise.
>
>
>
> On 9/30/05, Global Knowledge Dev. Moderator wrote:
>
>
>> As you know, while GKD was on hiatus, two strong hurricanes  
>> devastated
>> Southern US, particularly Louisiana and Mississippi. GKD  
>> moderators have
>> been involved with a first-responder organization to help them  
>> improve
>> the use of ICT in their efforts. A major lesson from this tragedy  
>> -- but
>> not one that is new to GKD members! -- was that technology  
>> availability
>> is not enough. Intercommunication among the various relief  
>> agencies must
>> be well planned and effectively implemented on the ground.
>>
>> We will be sending a message regarding some initiatives related to
>> disaster first-response that would greatly benefit from GKD members'
>> expertise and experience. Meanwhile, we would like to get input  
>> from our
>> Knowledge Management experts on GKD as to how fiascos like this  
>> can be
>> avoided in the future, e.g., through better database structures  
>> and more
>> innovative ways of networking under very trying conditions. In this
>> case, lessons from developing countries can provide very valuable
>> lessons for the US.
>>
>
>
>
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