SMSes used to assist in Haiti earthquake disaster

Clickatell, in partnership with its Kenyan based customer, Ushahidi, is expanding the call for assistance for the victims of the Haiti earthquake and emergency services deployed to assist in the country.

This comes at a time SMS alerts are being used as the communications platform of choice to coordinate initiatives, share information, organize processes, and gather and disburse significant information.

“The SMSs being sent and received are vital at this time, and, of course, time is of the essence. People have lost loved ones and support needs to be provided immediately to those on the ground dealing with the realities of the situation.

Sometimes a matter of 5 minutes can make or break a person’s survival and spirit working in this environment. Not only can text messages get there, they get there fast”, said Pieter de Villiers, Clickatell CEO in Cape Town.

Thanks to the SMS services, people are able to stay in contact, communicate to volunteers, convey information about the location of food and medical supplies and alert those looking for missing persons when information has been discovered, all helping to restore a country that has resorted to violence as people fight for survival.

“Clickatell is supporting customers like Ushahidi and FrontlineSMS, by ensuring messages are delivered accurately and instantaneously”, added de Villiers.

Clickatell enables businesses, governments and communities to leverage the ubiquity of mobile messaging to inform, alert, notify, transact, interact and share information.

by Ubbah Otieno