Our dedicated team of volunteers have mapped over 100 reports including many pictures, and this less than 48 hours after the deployment of the Ushahidi-Chile platform. During this time, I worked directly with colleagues from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), my alma mater, to help them set up their own Situation Room and take the lead on Ushahidi-Chile. Our partners Digital Democracy (D2) once again played an instrumental role and provided the SIPA Team with the full Ushahidi training they needed. Many thanks to both!

And of course thanks to The Fletcher Team for holding the fort during the first 48 hours. Last but certainly not least, thanks to the Ushahidi Tech Team for once again rallying to the cause after their massive effort on Haiti. Our colleague Oscar Salazar from “Ushahidi-Mexico” was also pivotal in getting the Ushahidi-Chile platform off the ground and will continue to be. Clearly, this is about building a community, a volunteer response community, more than anything else.

This is why I’m excited that another School of International Affairs has set up a Situation Room and taken the lead on an Ushahidi deployment. The Fletcher, DC, Geneva, London and Portland Teams already demonstrated the incredible multiplier effect that is possible thanks to their lead on the Ushahidi-Haiti project. There are now three core Ushahidi Situation Rooms in the world, Boston, New York and Geneva. They are fully trained and continue to train others. So if you are based at a university and want to set up your own Situation Room, then please feel free to contact me: patrick@ushahidi.com.

The earthquake in Chile and resulting tsunamis have not caused the widespread loss of life that many initially feared just hours after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake. But the advantage of platforms like Ushahidi’s is that they can be deployed regardless, just in case.  Consider this the Precautionary Principle of Disaster Management. And thanks to a growing community of CrisisMappers, these precautionary deployments can happen more often and faster.

Stay tuned for guest blog posts from the Digital Democracy and SIPA Teams.