| In The Charity of Nations, Ian Smilie divides the world of humanitarian relief into three broad sets of people and organizations: The first is composed of those in need--refugees, displaced people, victims of war and famine, people trying to put their lives back together after a cataclysm. The second set is made up of the front-line organizations that minister to them: UN agencies, international and local NGOs, the Red Cross movement, private sector firms, and sometimes the military. The third set is made up of those who pay the bills: mainly the governments of industrialized countries and the individual donors who make contributions to NGOs. (225)The interaction between these sets of people and organizations is crucial to the world's ability to react to humanitarian crises and provide disaster relief. However, enabling collective action among disaster survivors, front-line organizations, and donors has continually proved difficult to disaster relief efforts. In Web 2.0 social media, the world may have found a way to narrow the gaps between these three categories of people and organizations by improving channels of contribution, communication, and coordination. This possibility was widely demonstrated during the massive relief effort that ensued following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. |
