Lack of coordination is always a challenge when it comes to dealing with disasters and the Nepal earthquake is no exception. I was a strong proponent of “every man and organization for itself” the first few days because coordination is just not feasible on day one. Like any early stage startup the focus needed to be GET SHIT DONE (pardon my french). The focus was on SPEED as anyone willing to help was likely a first responder in the ocean of need.

But we are over a week in and it is time for this operation to grow up and develop roles and departments and interfaces. We need to become like a well coordinated human body where every part plays its role. The great news is that there is technology available to make the whole relief effort so much more coordinated and efficient.

Introducing Quakemap.org using the Ushahidi platform.

Ushahidi is the premier crisis mapping platform and quakemap.org is the main centralized deployment for the Nepal earthquake response. There are THOUSANDS of live reports in there already. More going in every few minutes. If you are a response/relief organization you need to be plugged in here. The Nepal Army, UN OCHA and many other organizations are already using Quakemap to submit their reports (needs/assessments) and responding according to the verified reports listed there.

Are you a responding organization playing lone ranger? Get into the dispatch process by filling out this form: http://bit.ly/1JRH1wA

Stop building your own spreadsheets and running your own hack call centers. Plug into THE centralized platform for reports and responses and let’s be coordinated to work smarter and more effectively in this key stage of the crisis.

p.s. Huge kudos goes to the Kathmandu Living Labs for making this all happen. In general it is very encouraging to see the computer geeks of Nepal unite to do their part — from shoveling rubble to handing out relief packets to leveraging technology to coordinate the efforts. Let’s keep going!