6 Lessons about Getting Around After an Earthquake

After an earthquake or other natural disaster, getting around can be a real problem. The earthquakes in Wellington were a prime example and it was great to see many lessons learned from Christchurch. One that resonated really nicely was NZ Police stopping cars going past the Wellington Railway Station to help people get lifts home because the trains were stopped and there weren’t enough buses available to help people get home.

I blogged recently about 22 apps that can help people in emergency situations and reiterate that the time you need to sort these out, is before the quake or emergency, because you may not have Internet or electricity after it happens.

A few more things you might like to think about or look at using:

1. Do you have a back up power supply for your mobile? I got mine from Deal eXtreme at a fraction of the price of going to a local store. I’ve been using it for 3 months now without any problems and they deliver to NZ for free.
2. As part of your backup plan, do you know where other people are in the city that you might be able to carpool with?
3. I mentioned and am called Glympse in my 22 apps blog. You might want to have another look at that. It was number 16. There’s a short video that lets you know how it works. It can tell your people where you are, or were last and track your movements, without sharing them with the world.
4. 

   AA Roadwatch view of Wellington Roads

   AA Roadwatch is the perfect web site in situations like this. They work tirelessly in emergencies to help let you know what roads are open and where the incidents are. You can also subscribe to TXT alerts for a specific route, or an area and you can also set an area such as Wellington as your default. There is also a page for Journey Times which compares current times with normal for that time of day.

5. Twitter is one of the most valuable applications in emergencies in my book, followed closely by facebook. The great thing about Twitter is it has Trending Topics, you can search for information using keywords or hashtags, like #eqnz to get specific information and bypass more generic info.
6. Twitter Lists comes into its own in times like these because you can use them to follow just the people you need to stay in touch with. But you could also use them to learn who has the good information. You could create a list called earthquake or example and follow the news media, emergency services and others who have current information. Here are 8 things to know about Twitter lists.

What have you learned from the latest earthquake that you can share? What advice do you have for others? What will you do differently next time?