Reaching People One Text at a Time

 Have you heard of crisis communication?  Many stakeholders and calamity analytics found it to be very useful in times when communication is best needed -- during calamities.  Our country has had a couple of fair share in this area of social responsibility as well.  Cell phone usage is essential during storms, and this time during an earthquake and even after it's devastating outcome.

I actually found out about the recent Cebu-Bohol earthquake through a text message from a cousin.  She texted me a few minutes after the the 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck their town in Antequera, Bohol.  She actually texted a mass of people on her cell phone's contact list to ask for prayers for the people in their town, especially those who got hurt from the debris which fell from the old church where they have just passed by.     118 After reading the SMS, we called her and good thing she availed of the free SMS Philippines promo from a network.  

Her effort of getting the news across every friends text messages have struck private companies sending help, money and zoning in on the real issues that occured during and after.  Reaching Facebook, the news and other social networking, this massive media help for crisis communication was able to outline data and information on how everyone can send help in many ways.  This also also let the people know how their loved-ones and relatives are doing, left in the calamity struck areas.  Thank God for modern communication technologies and for free texts or online SMS.

Though the news about our relatives in Bohol has spread, they still lack support in food, medicine, water and shelter.  Most of them are sleeping outside their own homes fearing that their house will fall on them, since the earthquake had made imminent destruction on many building structures.