Beyond CNN and New Orleans

How can I help? That's the big question on the minds of people who are watching the Gulf Coast disaster unfold.  At this point, a donation to the relief effort is probably the best and most efficient way any of us can help.   A friend, who is quick to pack up and share his nursing skills whenever there's a crisis, offered his assistance to various agencies, but was turned down by all.  Usually, he gets gas money, but relief agencies are hesitant to spend money when there's no plan in place.  It's not a good sign when skilled relief volunteers can't help. 

I got my chance yesterday when a patron called the library, looking for information on Diamondhead, MS, where she and her husband had recently purchased a retirement home.  She'd been under the impression that there was a satellite that was taking continuous pictures, and that you could zero in on a specific address via Google Maps.  I explained that those pictures were static, but offered to help however I could.  I asked her to tell me more--where, exactly, her house was (north of I-10),  the names of nearby towns, and the name of the newspaper read by people in her area.  My first stop was news.google.com, to see if there were any stories mentioning Diamondhead.  There were, and it wasn't good news. Next, I went to the Sun Herald online.  It's a regional newspaper that is still reporting and publishing online.   I called the woman and relayed all the stories I'd found, saying that everything I found pointed to massive destruction.  While anxious and upset about her situation, her concern was with those who had no place to go.

But, to those of you who are getting calls and questions from your patrons who have friends or family, or some sort of tie to any of the devastated areas, here are some suggestions how you can help.

Google News (news.google.com) can be a wealth of information. There are tons of duplicate stories, since many are syndicated pieces, but I found some helpful information from AP wire stories. 

The Sun Herald  (http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/) is a Southern Mississippi regional paper, that is doing its best to get information out, despite telecommunications outages. They are trying to get aerial photos up, and they have set up an "I'm Okay" hotline.  If you are looking for someone in the area, check the site periodically to see if they've been able to publish the list.
http://eyesonkatrina.blogspot.com/ (Hurricane Blog)

Other newspapers with local information:
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage (Jackson, Mississippi)
http://2theadvocate.com/ (The Advocate--Baton Rouge, LA)
http://www.chron.com/ (Houston Chronicle)
http://www.50states.com/news/alabama.htm (list of Alabama newspapers)
http://www.50states.com/news/miss.htm (Mississippi newspapers)
http://www.50states.com/news/louis.htm (Louisiana newspapers)
http://www.nola.com/ (Probably the best source of info relating to New Orleans and surrounding area)

There are Flickr photostreams under Katrina and Hurricane Katrina

Boing Boing has been posting information not available in the mainstream, the most recent being about how IT people can help. 

If you know of any unique sources, please share, and I'll continue to update.

Of course--Wikipedia! (Thanks Brian!)
Resource Shelf--Gary Price hasn't updated since Sunday, but good background info.

Craigslist now has a housing available list.  From free temporary board to regular rental properties--all over the US. 

Comments

[Mock Turtle]

http://www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=2794

This article at Disaster News Network describes and links to the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN). SATERN is a HAM radio team that can help families find each other when a disaster wipes out all other forms of communication. The article explains how it works. Unfortunately, the "Health and Welfare Information Request" link on the SATERN site is not working at the moment: too many people accessing the site.

[Kelly]

I work at a local homeless shelter in Central, IL and we got a phone call today from a family that had temporarily come to IL from New Orleans, looking for a place to stay. I imagine we might see more of an increase of people from the south because of the hurricane. Sometimes helping out at local homeless shelters (money, food, or time) might also be a good place to start.