In an amazing display of how social media has transformed the world, earthquake victims in Turkey are literally being dug up and rescued by search teams- only found because of the incredible progression of social networking sites.
Two earthquake victims trapped under the rubble in Van, Turkey, called out for help the only way they knew they'd be heard- they tweeted. A TV reporter saw their online cry for help and a search team was able to find the teens because of Twitter's location feature that gives users the ability to share exact coordinates and location. In just two hours the teenage boys were uncovered and rescued by the AKUT Search and Rescue Association in this remarkable true story.
The earthquake has taken the lives of over 500 people to date and flattened entire regions in Turkey. Many people are left without family, friends or homes. But this disaster has also uncovered how digitally connected Turks are, which is proving to be an incredible tool in the aftermath of the earthquake.
AKUT, a respected group of earthquake experts, has 1,500 members searching for earthquake victims in Van. Four of these AKUT volunteers, however, were given the unique task of searching for earthquake survivors in a completely different realm- the Internet. These four AKUT members have the full-time job of social media monitoring. They search social sites like Twitter, Facebook and other places on the web for signs of life buried in all of the rubble.
Ahmet Ercan, a leading geophysicist said, "The rescuers were very successful this time. The victims used Twitter and mobiles to alert people about their location, which really helped."
"It's the first time we have done something like this [social media monitoring]. Everybody was surprised that it worked", stated Memet Tanrisever, one of AKUT's founders.
In addition to these social search and find efforts, a Twitter movement has helped connect earthquake victims with Turkish residents willing to share their homes. It seems to have started when Ahmet Tezcan, former media advisor to the Turkish prime minister, used Twitter to offer his home to a needy family; 17,000 others quickly followed suit. The influx of generosity caused Istanbul officials to set up a 24 hour hotline to register people who were willing to share their homes with those displaced by the earthquake.
It will be a long road to recovery, but thankfully social media is here to help a countless number of victims after this disaster in Turkey. What other ways have you seen technology helping those in need?