Akkam’s Razor

The Chinese earthquake in Sichuan Province (with an epicenter about 90km away from Chengdu) became personal today while talking to a Chinese staffer today.  I shared with her some of the observed tactics I’ve seen regarding technology and disasters - such as use of IM and SMS to reach people. 

It appears that the internet is doing a fine job of keeping people connected and informed, as it had during 9/11, the Madrid and London bombings, the 2005 Tsunami, and the Virginia Tech Shootings.

In looking at some of the coverage, there is the developing Wikipedia entry.   Smartmobs reports on the live microblogging (more from Buzzfeed) that has occurred via Twitter (check Summize for searched results fromTwitter), even beating the USGS (the United States Geological Survey) in reporting the quake by a scant 3-minutes. 

Some first person accounts and news accounts are also posted on YouTube (check this 1:51 video of the quake in progress),  as reported by Silicon Valley Insider. 

The Google Earth Community already has several relavant Google Earth datafiles posted (which can also opened in Google Maps). 

The Shanghaist has also been well-updated although intermittently unavailable.