Save the Date! #weareVOST | September 13 to 15 2018 | Wuppertal Germany
European Premiere and Special Gathering for Virtual Operations Support Teams
Four VOST Teams in Europe are launching the first ever Virtual Operations Support Team #VOST and Social Media in Emergency Management #SMEM event in Europe. Join VOST Europe, VOST Spain, VISOV, and VOST DE (THW) at the University of Wuppertal from September 13th through 15th for a great opportunity to meet other VOSTies and colleagues, share knowledge and experience and best practices. Learn how to set up a team, discover tools, tips, tricks and much more at this ground breaking event.
More information to follow.
SAVE THE DATE!
#VOST El Salvador Reporte de Sismo del 07 Septiembre de 2017, Chiapas (M8.4) #Mexico #Earthquake @VOSTelsalvador
Reporte del Equipo de Voluntarios Digitales para Emergencias y Desastres @VOSTelsalvador
VOST El Salvador Reporte de Sismo del 07 Septiembre de 2017, Chiapas (M8.4)
InformaciónGeneral
El día 07 de septiembre de 2017 el Servicio Sismológico Nacional (SSN) reportó un sismo con magnitud 8.4 localizado en las cercanías de Tonalá, en el estado de Chiapas. El sismo, ocurrido a las 23:49:20 horas, fue sentido en el sur y centro del país, de igual manera fue percibido en menor escala en los países de Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras. Las coordenadas del epicentro son 14.95 latitud N y -94.27 longitud W y la profundidad es de 19km (Figura1).
En la Figura 2 seobservan registros de algunas estaciones sismológicas de bandaancha del Servicio Sismológico Nacional que registraron el sismo del 7 deseptiembre de 2017.
El mecanismo focal del sismo muestra una falla de tipo inverso (rumbo=311, echado=84.4, desplazamiento=-94.7) como se observa en la figura 3, la cual es típica del contacto convergente entre la Placa de Cocos y la Placa de Norteamérica. En esta región la Placa de cocos subduce por debajo de la placa de Norteamérica, este tipo de fallas nos indica que se trata de un sismo interplaca que, hasta las 01:05 hrs ya había registrado 27 réplicas, la mayor de magnitud 6.1.
Sismicidad histórica en el estado de Chiapas
México se encuentra en una zona de alta sismicidad debido a la interacción de 5 placas tectónicas: La placa de Norteamérica, la de Cocos, la del Pacífico, la de Rivera y la placa del Caribe. Por esta razón no es rara la ocurrencia de sismos.
Chiapas es uno de los estados con mayor sismicidad en la República Mexicana. El origen de esta sismicidad se debe al contacto convergente entre dos importantes placas tectónicas: La placa de Cocos y la Placa del Caribe (Figura 4). La interacción entre estas dosplacas tiene lugar en la costa del Pacífico, frenteadicho estado.
Con respecto a esta zona, iniciando el siglo XX se produjeron 3 grandes sismos superficiales con magnitudes mayores a 7 grados en las costas de Chiapas y Guatemala. El primero ocurrió cercano a la frontera México-Guatemala, el 19 de Abril de 1902 (M 7.5); el segundo el 23 de Septiembre de 1902 (M 7.7) en la costa norte de Chiapas y el tercero el 14 de enero de1903 (M7.6) enlacostasurdeChiapas.
Desde entonces se han producido otros tres grandes sismos, el 29 de Abril de 1970 (M 7.3), el 10 de Septiembre de 1993 (M 7.2) y el 7 de noviembre de 2012 (m 7.3). Todos ellosocurrieronenlapartesurdeChiapas.
Réplicas
Cuando ocurre un sismo de magnitud considerable las rocas que se encuentran cerca de la zona de ruptura sufren un reacomodo, lo que genera una serie de temblores en la zona que reciben el nombre de réplicas. El número de las réplicas puede variar desde unos cuantos hasta cientos de eventos en los próximos días o semanas de ocurrido el temblor principal.
La ocurrencia de temblores en el estado de Chiapas es frecuente. Hasta la fecha no se cuenta con técnicas científicas en ninguna parte del mundo que puedan determinar cuándo o dónde ocurrirá un sismo, tampoco se puede saber qué tan grande será o qué efectos tendrá en la población. Estar informados acerca de estos fenómenos naturales será de gran utilidad para mitigar el riesgo sísmico en caso de un evento de magnitud considerable.
Conforme pasaba el día 08 de septiembre y se realizaban trabajos de evaluación, búsqueda y rescate se reportaron un total de 58 personas fallecidas de acuerdo a datos oficiales.
Para Guatemala únicamente fueron reportados daños a viviendas y para El Salvador sede del el quipo @VOSTelsalvador país en el cual se realizo el monitoreo relacionada a la alerta de Tsunami, se descarto en horas de la madrugada dejando sin efecto dicha alerta, tampoco se reportaron daños a viviendas ni pérdidas humanas.
Actividades realizadas: Se detuvo un rumor sobre explosión en refinería.
Se realizaron actividades en las RRSS con las recomendaciones sobre que hacer Antes, Durante y Después de un SISMO, al igual se publicaron los números de emergencias del país.
Saludos cordiales
Atentamente
Dennys Bonilla Vallaadres
Director VOST El Salvador.
Report of the Digital Volunteer Team for Emergencies and Disasters @VOSTelsalvador.
General Information
On September 7, 2017, the National Seismological Service (SSN) reported an earthquake with magnitude 8.4 located in the vicinity of Tonalá, in the state of Chiapas. The earthquake, occurring at 11:49:20 hours, was felt in the south and center of the country, and was perceived on a smaller scale in the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The coordinates of the epicenter are 14.95 latitude N and -94.27 length W and the depth is 19 km (Figure 1).
Figure 2 shows records of some broadband seismological stations of the Seismological Service which recorded the earthquake of September 7, 2017.
The focal mechanism of the earthquake shows an inverse type fault (bearing = 311, cast = 84.4, displacement = -94.7) as seen in Figure 3, which is typical of the convergent contact between the Cocos Plate and the Plate of North America . In this region the Coconut Plate subducts below the plate of North America, this type of fault indicates to us that it is an interplate earthquake that, until 01:05 hrs already had registered 27 replicas, the greater Of magnitude 6.1.
Historical Seismicity in the state of Chiapas
Mexico is in an area of high seismicity due to the interaction of 5 tectonic plates: North America, Cocos, Pacific, Rivera and Caribbean plates. For this reason it is not rare the occurrence of earthquakes.
Figure 4. Tectonic plates that interact in Mexican territory.
Chiapas is one of the most seismic states in the Mexican Republic. The origin of this seismicity is due to the convergent contact between two important tectonic plates: The Cocos plate and the Caribbean Plate (Figure 4). The interaction between these two plates takes place in the coast of the Pacific, in front of this state.
With respect to this area, beginning in the 20th century, there were 3 large surface earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 7 degrees on the coast of Chiapas and Guatemala. The first occurred near the Mexico-Guatemala border, on April 19, 1902 (M 7.5); the second on September 23, 1902 (M 7.7) on the north coast of Chiapas and the third on January 14, 1903 (M 7.6) on the South coast of Chiapas.
Since then there have been three other major earthquakes, 29 April 1970 (M 7.3), 10 September 1993 (M 7.2) and 7 November 2012 (m 7.3). All of these occurred in the southern part of Chiapas.
Replicas
When an earthquake of considerable magnitude occurs the rocks that are near the zone of rupture undergo a rearrangement, which generates a series of tremors in the zone that receive the name of replicas. The number of replicates can range from a few to hundreds of events in the next few days or weeks of the major earthquake.
The occurrence of tremors in the state of Chiapas is frequent. To date there are no scientific techniques anywhere in the world that can determine when or where an earthquake will occur, nor can you know how large it will be or what effects it will have on the population. Being informed about these natural phenomena will be very useful to mitigate the seismic risk in case of an event of considerable magnitude.
As September 8 occurred and evaluation, search and rescue were carried out and reported, a total of 58 people died according to official data.
For Guatemala, only damage was reported to houses and for El Salvador, the site of the @VOSTelsalvador team in which the monitoring related to the Tsunami alert was carried out, the alert was discontinued in the morning hours. No damage was reported to housing and there were no fatalities.
VOST Activities
A rumor about explosion in a refinery was stopped.
Activities were carried out in the RRSS with recommendations on what to do before, during and after an earthquake.
The VOST amplified the country's emergency numbers.
Dennys Bonilla Vallaadres
Director VOST El Salvador
VOST Spain receives the Bronze Civil Protection Merit Medal #EspirituVOST @VOSTspain #SMEM #VOST
MADRID - June 16 2017
The President of VOST Spain, Rafael Gálvez Rivas, received the Bronze Medal of Merit for Civil Protection this Friday from the Minister of the Interior of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Juan Ignacio Zoido. This decoration recognizes the VOST Spain group collectively, an honor for the work of all teams of digital volunteers in Spain that have been implemented in all the autonomous communities.
VOST Spain is a non-profit association whose main task is to collaborate with the Emergency Services and the State Security Forces and Corps to help them stop fake news, rumors and hoaxes in emergency situations and to be able to disseminate official information necessary to citizens for their self-protection.
The first team of digital emergency volunteers (VOST) was established in Spain in 2012 with the intention of stopping hoaxes that emerged during the response to the large forest fires that were raging in the Iberian Peninsula, including those of Carlet, Cortes de Pallás, Andilla and the Tenerife, La Palma, La Jonquera and Alt Èmporda.
During these fires, the hoaxes asking for chain saws, trucks and requesting retweets of false information escalated to the point that could have endangered the lives of the participants and of the citizens, were it not for the denials made on the local social networks by 'influencers' in the world of emergencies, such as fire analyst Javier Blanco and health emergency technician Juan Luis De Castellví. Thus, a group of professionals working in the field of emergency services, led by the journalist Luis Serrano, then responsible for communication of the Madrid 112, decided to import the VOST model that originated in the United States and to create VOST Spain. Among those professionals were the current president of VOST Spain, social media emergency management professional Rafael Gálvez Rivas, fire analyst Javier Blanco, DYA member Jokin Zubieta, and other volunteers who collaborated to launch @VOSTSpain on August 2, 2012.
From that moment, the VOST developed a model based on the monitoring of social networks, mainly Twitter, to detect rumors and share information with the emergency services and forces and bodies of State Security, with the objective of dealing with the disinformation that runs through social networks in situations of uncertainty such as forest fires, terrorist attacks, train or aircraft accidents or any other circumstance in which it is required.
Heroes With and Without Uniforms | #EspirituVOST
At the June 16 2017 presentation of the annual Civil Protection Merit Medals in Madrid, Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido thanked 58 national and local police, civil guards, soldiers, firefighters, Red Cross staff and anonymous citizens, "heroes with and without uniforms" for their commitment to the security and protection of citizens. Zoido extolled the values such distinguished recipients represent -- solidarity, sacrifice and the spirit of service -- also known as #EspirituVOST in the Spanish speaking #VOST community.
A reflection of the best everyday reality in Spain
During the awards event, the Interior Minister cited as an example the "lesson" offered by Ignacio Echeverría, the Spaniard who died in the bombing of London when he confronted the terrorists and tried to aid a policeman, saying that his behavior is also a "benchmark" for the construction of a better future and evidence that "Spanish society has its greatest asset in its citizens, in Spain." And "That's why you are a reflection of the best everyday reality in Spain."
Blue is the Color of Collaboration
VOST Spain has been awarded the Bronze Medal with Blue Badge. Each medal bears a distinctive color on the ribbon, which may be red, blue or white. They are assigned according to the type of acts for which it is granted:
- Red: heroism or solidarity
- Blue: collaboration
- White: cooperation.
VOST Spain has five hundred volunteers who occasionally travel to the scene to collaborate with emergency services and security forces, while other colleagues monitor the networks and identify fake news and hoaxes related to the emergency or disaster situation, providing a reliable and trustworthy resource for official information directly to citizen worldwide.
Receiving the Bronze Medal for Civil Protection for VOST Spain from the Minister of the Interior of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, President Rafael Gálvez Rivas commented, "This is everyone's merit, a pride for the whole VOST family. Hopefully with this and our activities, we help everyone."
Many congratulations from the VOSG Global Advisory Council and colleagues across the world for the honor and recognition by the Government of Spain for the magnificent achievements by VOST Spain as a leader in the #VOST field.
You can watch the Presentation here:
https://twitter.com/vostSPAIN/status/875677842658349056
CanVOST Supporting emergency management officials during the #FortMcMurray wildfire response - #VOST #SMEM
In May 2016, a wildfire began ravaging Fort McMurray and surrounding areas in Canada, leading to the evacuation of more than 80,000 residents. As first responders battled the blaze and emergency management officials worked tirelessly to coordinate efforts, several organizations, including Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science (DRDC CSS), worked behind the scene to provide advice and support.
As social media has become a major source of information during disasters, and the large volume of online content creates a challenge for emergency management officials who needed to filter through what was important and what was rumour or speculation, officials reached out to VOST. DRDC CSS assisted the AEMA in activating Canada’s Virtual Operations Support Team (CanVOST), a volunteer organization consisting of emergency-related professionals who provide social media monitoring services and reports for emergency agencies during crises. DRDC CSS had worked with CanVOST during the third annual Canada-United States Enhanced Resiliency Experiment (CAUSE III), where they developed a process for activating CanVOST’s services.
https://twitter.com/patricecloutier/status/859592555973021699
Situational Awareness is Key
Situational awareness (SA) – knowing what is happening on the ground – is key to coordinating emergency efforts and making informed decisions.
“This fire forced the largest mass evacuation in Alberta history – and one of the largest in Canadian history. Many agencies were involved and a key challenge was concise communication of SA, as information changed hour-by-hour and often, minute-by-minute,” said Kevin Wowk, Emergency Management Officer at Alberta Health Services (AEMA).
”We have made significant investments to enhance SA capabilities,” said Dr. Mark Williamson, Director General, DRDC CSS. “Over the years, we have developed expertise in social media use during emergencies and supported the development of tools for information sharing through map-based applications. During the Fort McMurray fires, we drew on this to provide guidance and support, and connect our network of experts with emergency management officials on site.”
Information Sharing to Support Planning, Coordination and Decision-Making
Technological capabilities such as the national Multi-Agency Situational Awareness System (MASAS) and the Operations Centre Information Portal (OCIP), developed over the years through the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) and pre-cursor programs, played an important role in supporting agencies involved in responding to the wildfire.
“MASAS allowed us to share locations of fires, road closures, hazards or other safety information, safe routes, command posts, staging areas and a host of other information that could be viewed in real-time in a concise, graphical format. We attached pictures, documents or links to more information to these graphical entries when required. Users could also view real-time weather data including wind direction – which was a critical safety concern during this incident,” said Wowk. “With personnel being deployed from across the province, being able to do all of this through MASAS made the organization of all the information coming in much easier, and allowed better coordination.”
“Emergency response happens at the local level, however it’s important that federal departments monitor the situation and coordinate requests for assistance,” said David Conabree, Acting Director General, Government Operations Centre (GOC) at Public Safety Canada (PS).
The GOC led the response coordination on behalf of the federal government. The Operations Centre Interconnectivity Portal, a system developed through a PS-led CSSP-funded project, was instrumental in bringing together key federal departments/agencies to assess the risks that the wildfire posed to the municipality of Wood Buffalo residents and its surrounding critical infrastructure, and ensured federal efforts were coordinated to support the Province of Alberta.
Predicting smoke patterns
As the wildfire grew, smoke exposure became a major concern. BlueSky Canada is a smoke forecasting system that tracks information on fires to create accurate and useful smoke predictions.
In 2013, BlueSky Canada received support from the CSSP to expand smoke forecasts to cover most of Canada. These forecasts were particularly useful during the Fort McMurray wildfire, allowing emergency management officials to stay informed about the smoke patterns and take precautionary action as necessary.
"We had significantly higher unique visitors and forecast page views to the BlueSky Canada website during the fire than any time in our history," said Roland Schigas, BlueSky Canada development and operations, University of British Columbia. "We were also contacted directly by several energy companies with facilities near Fort McMurray, who requested help forecasting smoke concentrations in order to ensure health and safety of their employees."
Social media and digital volunteers
As we’ve seen in recent years, social media has become a major source of information during disasters. The hashtags #ymm, #fortmac, and #fortmacfire trended on Twitter with shocking imagery shared all over the internet. The large volume of online content created a challenge for emergency management officials who needed to filter through what was important and what was rumour or speculation.
DRDC CSS assisted the AEMA in activating Canada’s Virtual Operations Support Team (CanVOST), a volunteer organization consisting of emergency-related professionals who provide social media monitoring services and reports for emergency agencies during crises. DRDC CSS had worked with CanVOST during the third annual Canada-United States Enhanced Resiliency Experiment (CAUSE III), where they developed a process for activating CanVOST’s services.
https://twitter.com/The_MattGreen/status/859596269123141632
Members of groups like CanVOST are known as digital volunteers, a concept that has been thoroughly explored through DRDC-led projects. One of these projects aimed to identify social media best practices for improved cooperation between official responders, digital volunteers and the public. The practical applications of this capability were tested during the third and fourth annual CAUSE experiments and proved to be a valuable resource. These combined efforts have helped DRDC CSS create a large database of information and resources on the subject, which has gained national recognition.
“The fact that we were contacted by AEMA during a period of extreme operational intensity and profound risk reflects highly on the respect that our program has earned,” said Colin Murray, then Director of Knowledge & Technology: Community Safety, DRDC CSS. “This enables DRDC CSS to deliver trusted advice and real-world impact. We feel privileged to provide this level of support.”
DRDC CSS also helped connect another digital volunteer team called YMMHelps with Dataminr, a top tier social media analytics tool that filters, sorts, and analyses relevant content on various feeds in real-time. The team emerged in the early days of the disaster to provide support by monitoring Twitter and Facebook resources to organize assistance and accommodations for Fort McMurray evacuees.
“We were able to utilize this information to add links to a site for people looking for support, said Elizabeth Myers, a digital volunteer. It was an amazing experience to use technology to help many people right from our office and hundreds of miles away from the fire.”
https://twitter.com/patricecloutier/status/859597489531478016
Read the full report by The Government of Canada here: http://www.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/en/dynamic-article.page?doc=supporting-emergency-management-officials-during-the-fort-mcmurray-wildfire-response/j1wgdft5
Photo By DarrenRD - File:Landscape view of wildfire near Highway 63 in south Fort McMurray.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
VOSG announced the formation of @VOSTchile - the second #VOST in South America
The Virtual Operations Support Group welcomed a new #VOST team in Chile this week. VOST Chile is the second #VOST to be established in South America in the last year. VOST Chile and VOST Ecuador are part of the VOST Americas Regional Group, which also includes teams in Central and North America.
The @VOSTchile team currently comprises a volunteer staff based in Chile of different academic and emergency responder backgrounds, including geographers, firefighters and geophysicists. The team will cover incidents in Chile nationwide, coordinating with local EMA for supporting action, and may provide surge support for the region during the occurrence of adverse events.
Matt Green, a member of the VOSG's Global Advisory Council said, "We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with our colleagues in Chile as we continue to strengthen our global VOSG network."
"VOST Europe welcomes our Chilean brothers and sisters to the VOST family, one more opportunity to strengthen cooperation across continents." commented Iratxe Gomez Susaeta for VOST Europe.
Currently in development status, the team will be active on Twitter @VOSTchile. Guidance and Training for the new team is being provided by VOST Panama for VOST Americas, together with support from other Spanish speaking VOSTs in the VOSG family.
#EENA2017 Conference #Budapest live stream Wed 5 April in English with @VOSTeurope and @VISOV1 #SMEM
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The EENA Conference & Exhibition 2017 is on 5-7 April in beautiful Budapest, Hungary. It's all about hot topics and new trends, including social media in crisis, Advanced Mobile Location, drones in search & rescue, the future of CAD, eCall, and more, some of which will be available remotely on live-stream. Check #EENA2017 on Twitter for all updates & insights.
The morning on the first day, Wednesday 5 April, includes a Facebook Live interview with David Ginola at 9:25 followed by a session on the use of Social Media in a crisis from 9:55 – 10:40 Budapest time on @periscopetv. Convert to your time zone here at www.timeanddate.com.
Informing the public with accurate and timely information following weather, public safety or security events is a challenge authorities are facing today. Merging this challenge with the power of social media is a possible solution that can reach the public en masse. In this session you will hear interesting discussions and opinions from experts in the field.
- Chair: Sylvain Lapoix
- Journalist Benoît Ramacker, Spokesperson, CrisisCenter, Belgium
- Andrea Keune, Staff Member Social Media Team, Berlin Police, Germany
- Nicolas Vanderbiest, Assistant, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Patrick Lagadec, Senior Scientist, Ecole Polytechnique (retired), France
- Marina Tymen, Member, VISOV (Virtual Operations Support Team), France
- Iratxe Gomez, Spokesperson, Virtual Operations Support Team Europe
Later on the same day, between 14:00 – 16:00, Iratxe Gomez, Operations Director, EENA, and VOSG Global Advisory Council Member, will chair a discussion on Social Media in emergencies and #VOST - Virtual Operations Support Teams (1 hr). In this session, you will hear emerging trends and practical uses of social media during emergencies and how citizens can become empowered to become a central part of any response. Check your time zone here.
Make sure not to miss it. http://goo.gl/jApGV8
EENA, the European Emergency Number Association, is a Brussels-based NGO set up in 1999 dedicated to promoting high-quality emergency services reached by the number 112 throughout the EU.The EENA memberships include more than 1300 emergency services representatives from over 80 countries world-wide, 80 solution providers, 15 international associations/organisations, more than 200 Members of the European Parliament and over 90 researchers. EENA serves as a discussion platform for emergency services, public authorities, decision makers, researchers, associations and solution providers with a view to improving the emergency response in accordance with citizens' requirements. EENA is also promoting the establishment of an efficient system for alerting citizens about imminent or developing emergencies.
Over the years, the EENA Conference has become the place to go for emergency services, public authorities, researchers and industry representatives to get the very last updates on emerging trends and hot topics in the field of emergency services. The 2017 edition will welcome more than 600 participants from about 50 countries in Europe and beyond, including Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Georgia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.
LANGUAGE: English.
For more information, go to EENA.og
For the latest information on existing #VOST teams, go here.
#HurricaneMatthew #VOST EMHS Student Volunteers Needed #Tallahassee #FSU #SMEM
#VOST Volunteer Opportunity
Please contact FSU directly to respond to the following call for additional #SMEM support.
FSU VOST
To all current EMHS students in the Tallahassee area,
We have an urgent request for student volunteers to work alongside EM officials at the State Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Emergency Support Function 14 (Public Information). This is a fantastic opportunity to experience a real "grey skies" situation and make a legitimate difference in the current EOC activation. Students may be asked to volunteer their time today (Oct. 5) or any time through the activation period.
We are also still looking for Virtual Operations Support Team (VOST) volunteers to help EMHS faculty and staff monitor social media during the EOC activation. Student volunteers can monitor social media activities about Hurricane Matthew from anywhere; you can work from the comfort of your home, on campus, or anywhere in between. This is another great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in emergency management. All EMHS students are welcome!
If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please e-mail Alissa Bell (abell@em.fsu.edu) ASAP. Thank you!
The original post is here
FSU VOST Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/fsu.vost
More information about the FSU VOST Program at their website here.
FSU Emergency Management and Homeland Security Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/em.fsu.edu
*If you're interested in joining VOSG as an individual, who is seeking #VOST training and /or deployment opportunities for a future activation, please contact us here.
VOSG and Emergency 2.0 Wiki Partnership #smemau #vost #smem #osint #actionablegraphics
We are excited to announce a partnership between the Virtual Operations Support Group (VOSG) and the Emergency 2.0 Wiki for resource and knowledge sharing. Our first two joint projects are the Actionable Graphics Project and supporting the development of VOST Australia.
Sample animated graphic for public safety message: Do not drive through a flooded road
#actionablegraphics #SMEM project
The Project aims to provide a series of iconic social media public safety graphic messages (a graphic go-kit), available for download from the Emergency 2.0 Wiki website, where selected and approved graphics and messages will be shown side by side in customized English, French and Spanish versions.
The intent is to provide an immediate, trusted (approved and verified) public safety messaging resource, specifically for use by emergency management organizations and the Virtual Operation Support Teams (VOSTs) which support them in amplifying important official messages in an emergency or disaster situation.
Animated GIFs and infographics appeal to the general public who we hope will share widely with their own social media networks, increasing reach and exposure.
The graphics will be for major emergencies such as flood, snowstorm, hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, mass shootings and terrorism.
We will be crowdsourcing feedback and input for this project, so watch this space for developments…
VOST Australia
The Emergency 2.0 Wiki is assisting with the development of VOST Australia, a Virtual Operations Support Team to provide surge support for emergency services in times of disaster.
In March 2016 a VOST Australia Meet Up was hosted by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) in Brisbane. Eileen Culleton from the Emergency 2.0 Wiki and Joanna Lane from the Virtual Operations Support Group (VOSG) enjoyed a tour of the State Disaster Coordination Center by Kathy Wright from QFES.
Photo: Kathy Wright, Eileen Culleton, Joanna Lane at State Disaster Coordination Centre (QLD)
VOST Australia will be activated by emergency response agencies as an official resource to perform specific functions such as:
- Supplement existing personnel and fill gaps in intelligence
- Hone in on specific data that is requested and actionable
- Amplify official information to wider networks
- Correct misinformation in major incidents
- Ensure key public safety messaging is reaching the whole community or intended audience across all media
- Build relationships with key community groups, using them as a resource
- Monitor and report isolated problems
International support
VOST Australia will be able to upscale and access surge support from the 37 other active VOST Teams around the world. VOST Australia will also act as surge support for overseas VOST teams responding to disasters.
Sharing lessons learned
Key lessons learned from VOST Australia activations will be shared on the Emergency 2.0 Wiki to help accelerate learning across the world.
Feeder for learning and cross collaboration
It is our hope this partnership will foster greater collaboration, learning and knowledge sharing between the Emergency 2.0 Wiki community and VOST teams around the world.
More information on VOST Australia can be found at http://vostaus.blogspot.com.au/ also follow on Twitter @VOSTAus.
For enquiries, including membership, contact VOST Australia Team Lead Daniel Eshuis via vostaus [at] gmail.com.
Also see VOSG International at https://vosg.us/ and follow on Twitter @VOST1.
More information on the Emergency 2.0 Wiki can be found on the Wiki and blog. Also follow on Twitter @Emergency20wiki.
VOSG News: @VOSTPanama After Action Report [AAR] Feb 10th 2016 #FTCAyuda #VOST #SMEM
The Panama’s Virtual Operations Support Team Volunteers (VOST Panama) were invited by Mr. Jose Donderis, Director of the National Civil Protection System, to be part of the Carnival 2016 Operation. The VOST volunteers were members of the Joint Task Force, within the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Aguadulce, Cocle.
Six VOST volunteers participated, from February 6th to 10th, in the following tasks:
Support the dissemination of prevention messages issued by all government entities through social networks in order to reach every user effectively. The information was consolidated using the hashtag #FTCAyuda
- Road Safety
- Beaches and swimming spots safety
- Use of emergency numbers
- Port Safety
- Water saving
Monitor social networks using digital tools.
- Detection of information and/or accident reports or relevant events
- Detection of rumors, spam, false or malicious information regarding emergency situations.
- Channeling information on emergencies through phone-number groups and official accounts.
During this intervention at the EOC, a total of 27 support efforts for emergencies were managed through different communication channels.
During these five days we reached sixty thousand six hundred impressions of posts issued via Twitter, obtaining:
- 373 retweets
- 97 likes and
- 48 multimedia clicks
Our team of volunteers feels satisfied, proud and thankful for the opportunity to participate for the first time in Panama in this operation as an emergency management group in social networks.
Regards.
Juan Gil Magaña Estrada
Team Leader VOST Panama
Email: info [at] vostpanama.org
Twitter: @Vostpanama
VOSG #HappyNewYear #FelizAñoNuevo #BonneAnnée 2016 #SMEM
The overriding lesson for the Virtual Operations Support Group (#VOSG) for 2015 is that we live in a very scattered space and need to select tools that do more of what works and do less of what doesn’t work. VOSG is first and foremost project based - we are the doers of virtual operations support teams who get it done as needed, no politics - throughout 2015 and carrying that mission forward to 2016 and beyond. Our goals are to use the public as a resource for social media intelligence to help the authorities identify unmet needs and better manage their resources for the benefit of the whole community, and also to engage with the community to help them help themselves in all phases of disaster, especially during the Response phase where it has been proven over and over that we can and do change the outcome, saving lives and helping to preserve property.
As an a-political, project driven organization, we believe in learning by doing, not just talking. The apparent absence of #VOST in some incidents where we don't have active teams, for example in the #StormFrank aftermath in the UK, also various active shooter incidents in the US, and the refugee crisis in the Greek Islands amongst other incidents over the last 365 days, we learn that we cannot be all things to all people all of the time. We cannot roll out enough VOSTs "in-house" for every agency in the world to have a local team available anywhere and everywhere needed. Events in 2015 overtook us. We cannot deploy fully trained VOSTs with standardized training and resources to provide a proper and professional response team fast enough to serve everyone, everywhere at all times. If nothing else, 2015 taught us that is an unrealistic goal at this time.
We also learnt that there is value in a "VOST in the sky", a team that can be "ordered up" as needed ad hoc for those who don't have a "home team". skyVOST, a team that can be called upon at a moment's notice to step in and help regardless of where that need may be in the world provides another option and much needed solution that we will be further developing in 2016. This concept was proven in 2015 when we deployed to a locality where no official connection had been pre-established, namely Nepal. By partnering with Team Rubicon USA, an NGO responding to the earthquake who did have the Government connections in place, for the first time, we deployed a VOST to support the specific missions of a non-government organization. By working in tandem with other digital humanitarian groups and leveraging their efforts, including Standby Task Force, Kathmandu Living Labs, and generously sponsored by Geofeedia, we learned that everyone is needed and that even a small and very remote VOST can make a big difference for teams that may need additional intelligence for their teams helping survivors on the ground. And that there is a place for the VOSG in disaster response everywhere, for individual members, single teams or offering mutual aid support and operating together as a family of teams - performing specific missions requested by those responding on the ground - filling a small gap or even a huge one to save lives and help preserve property - changing the outcome.
As we ring in the New Year, we have established teams in Europe, Americas and Oceania, now operating in 3 languages simultaneously - English, French and Spanish - who can be called upon at a moment's notice to support each other across the entire network. Conops are in place, coordinated via the VOSG Global Advisory Council (GAC) which was established as a team of 12 representatives in 2015 for the purposes of global coordination during major incidents, and to vet new teams applying to join the VOSG. The VOSG GAC currently comprises leadership representation from the following teams:
- Can VOST
- NY VOST
- VOST Panama
- VISOV
- VOST Spain
- VOST Vic
Throughout 2015, VOSTs throughout the world were focused on day to day incidents, including stamping out hoaxes (#stopbulos / #mythbusters) and dozens of volunteers stepped up on a regular basis. Incidents included everything from wildfires to severe weather to terrorist attack to earthquake to a building collapse, floods and more. Globally, for the first time ever, we supported a US NGO in an international crisis, and in the process, proved that there was value in deploying a remote Virtual Operations Support Team on the fly, where none had previously been established. skyVOST flexed to provide advance intelligence for a medical team en route to a major disaster zone on the other side of the world and continued to support this first US medical team with boots on the ground as part of the United Nations medical response. A long time before any other teams deployed from the US, we were already there, set up and helping.
During 2015, our member teams were recognized for their incredible work by government and official agencies in Spain, Panama, France and in the US by the FDNY, Henrico County Virginia, Colorado DHSEM and more. These are no small achievements for an industry sector that did not even exist 5 years ago and has been built from the ground up on the backs of caring volunteer effort with zero funding support to date. Every member who has contributed is appreciated and the VOSG will recognize contributions of the past year with Certificates of Appreciation, as well as introduce a new VOSG Global Award for the best work, adding to the many awards and commendations that are received by teams from their local jurisdictions.
In some ways, 2015 appeared to be dominated by traumatic #ActiveShooter incidents, too many regrettably, but not previously experienced by #VOST in any significant way; that was until #AttentatsParis. Typically VOST does not activate for law enforcement which is more appropriately allocated to an in-house SMEM staff team for security purposes, but few have that capability currently. As we witnessed innocent civilians getting caught up in such incidents, and the public in harms way, we realized that there are still unmet needs in such hazards, in fact all hazards, and that we need to be flexible in our response to requests for support. Thus our teams found themselves deployed by Government agencies at Federal and State level to help the social media public response efforts in both the #ParisAttacks in France and #PlannedParenthood in Colorado Springs.
One issue common to almost all those activations was the need for unified messaging to bridge the global language barriers we currently face. We've seen it in play in the field since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, but 3 years later, the gaps were even more clearly marked when a major terrorist incident targeted the international capital city of Paris. The benefit from the VISOV (French VOST) translated and published SMEM (MSGU) Guide in French was apparent in the efficiency and professionalism of the team, but still there are Lessons learned from activations such as these that now serve to direct our future goals, projects and work product for 2016.
For the first quarter 2016, these include:
- Operational Languages: Adding Italian and German to our day to day communications networks is a priority, and starts with a search for new partners to join VOST Europe. 2015 saw some exploratory talks with interested parties, but we have yet to identify with groups or individuals with common goals. Interested? Please contact us here.
- Universal Messaging: We have partnered with the Emergency 2.0 Wiki and CEO Eileen Culleton for a pilot project to test out unified response phase messaging that bridges language and cultural barriers - one image worth a thousand words in any language. With the help of Emergency 2.0 Wiki reference group member Philippe Borremans in Brussels, we have also secured a partnership with PR Media based in Morocco, with global links through Hill & Knowlton Strategies. The project team includes:
- Daniel Eshuis (Oceania - Australia)
- Rafael Galvez Rivas (Europe - Spain)
- Matt Green (Americas - US)
- Joanna Lane (Americas US/ Europe - UK)
- Gabe Lugo (Americas - US)
- Juan Magana (Americas - Panama)
- Maria Luisa Moreo (Europe - Spain)
- Matt Murray (Oceania - Australia)
- Marina Tymen (Europe France / Worldwide - French language speakers)
- Jean-Guilhem Cailton (Europe France / Worldwide - French language speakers)
2015 also saw some VOST losses and hopes dashed. We saw the leadership in some teams change focus to other career paths, teams fail to gain traction or establish themselves with incompatible core values. As we close out the year, the VOSG family is saying goodbye to @VOSTItaly, @VOSTItalia, @VOSTde and @VOSTUK, with whom VOSG has no affiliation. We hope every nation finds the inspiration, talent and resources needed in 2016 to work with us to grow the VOSG's global VOST network.
Another goal for 2016 is to start to tackle the long overdue issues surrounding donations management. In every disaster, human nature being what it is, people reach out to offer help, and others ask for monetary donations. There are always a few with their hand out asking for help that are not well meaning and authorities cannot have their eyes on every platform early enough in the response phase to manage these concerns. This was a gap and a lost opportunity for VOST in 2015 that we would hope to resolve in the coming year.
These are just some of the highlights of our achievements over the past year. Feel free to highlight others in the comments.
Wishing everyone in VOST and VOSG a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016. We're not yet able to do that in the 35 languages Twitter is supporting this year, but at least we can do so in the 3 operational languages we currently support, which is still a fantastic achievement and 2 more than this time last year for each of us.
#HappyNewYear #FelizAñoNuevo #BonneAnnée
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