Domain names

January 5, 2005

The Internet has played an unprecedented role supplying help, information and money in the aftermath of the largest tsunamis to hit Asia.

Hours after the first waves crashed onto the coastlines, an electronic movement was underway. Donations poured into aid agencies through Web sites. Friends, relatives and strangers scoured the Internet for information about missing relatives and tsunami survivors.

Individuals, linked by an electronic network from text messages to Web sites, began answering pleas for help, releasing list of survivors and funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to aid agencies even as authorities struggled to gain control of the situation.

"It's been going on nonstop," said Andreas Hoistad, an IT worker in Norway, who helped establish the Phuket Disaster Message Board a day after the tsunamis hit Asia on December 26. The independent Web site, built by a few computer specialists with donated time and hardware, offers more than 13,000 postings with lists of names, descriptions of the damage, pictures of relatives and links for those seeking to identify victims.

"The forum proved quite quickly that people involved in the disaster had a great need for information," Hoistad said.

The electronic bulletin board has sections for the missing, reunited and breaking news. One posting for families lists identifying marks on bodies recovered from the devastated Thai coastline: "Male. Boy, blue T-shirt with a full-print of 'Spiderman' on front." Another thanks searchers who found relatives or sent back word about their condition.

Although a week has passed since the machinery of government and aid agencies was set in motion, thousands continue to visit the site each day. Web sites of foreign ministries and embassies still offer a limited number of resources for anxious families actively looking for loved ones.

"We thought the need for the site would have disappeared a couple of days ago," said Hoistad, who recorded more than 3 million unique users on the site. "It will be there as long as someone needs it."

Spontaneous campaigns over the Internet -- fueled by volunteers and personal connections -- are a common, but not necessarily the most reliable, response to disasters.

Press Releases

While hospitals, governments and aid agencies must vet their information, the Web sites are open to all. Disclaimers about the accuracy of the information are seldom enough to protect people from false hopes or outright fraud.

"We're now starting to see a number of instances of e-mail spammers sending out phishing e-mails claiming to be from legitimate charities and from fake charities," said Chris Green, a technical editor for Computing Newspaper, a technology magazine.

"The problem is with these that the donations are not only not going to charities, but you're handing over credit card info and details used for further fraud."

Despite instances of fraud, identity theft does not appear to have occurred on a large scale.

In fact, well-established retailers have thrown their marketing muscle and credibility behind the tsunami relief effort.

Both Apple.com and Amazon.com feature links to the American Red Cross. EBay allows sellers to donate 10 to 100 percent of their proceeds to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, through eBay Giving Works, as well as other charities.

Some aid workers said this level of giving has not been seen for at least a decade.

"There was such a huge impact immediately (that) people acted immediately," said Helen daSilva, a spokeswoman for Oxfam America. "The numbers have been incredible."

The London-based non-profit organization announced its goal of collecting $5 million for tsunami relief on December 29. It met that mark a day later. By this Tuesday, OxFam has collected about $15 million with a majority of the 73,000 donations made online.

Because the development and relief agency has been operating in some south Asian nations for years, OxFam America said it will remain there for what it expects to be an unfolding crisis.

"(Donations) are going to be there when the crisis period is over and the rebuilding will be taking place," said daSilva. "At this point, nothing would be too much. We have the infrastructure in place...to help these communities rebuild."

Source: CNN