Haiti in need...

CRIES FOR HELP VIA TEXT MESSAGES ARE USED TO DIRECT AID TO HAITI

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MIAMI - From his makeshift workstation, Mr Ryan Bank spends hours sifting through thousands of electronic cries for help from Haitian earthquake victims, many detailing the horrors of dead family members, hunger and homelessness.

"I'm hungry and I have no one," says one text message from a Haitian man living in a tent city with thousands of others whose homes were destroyed in the quake. "People are unable to breathe due to the smell of the dead," says another.

Mr Bank, a Coast Guard volunteer who runs his own technology company in Chicago, said he had received more than 18,000 messages.

"Most of them are utterly heartbreaking," he said while staring at a list of messages sent to him through a new emergency relief effort that relies on text messages and social networking websites to help coordinate humanitarian aid in Haiti.

Along with the United States State Department, the Pentagon and aid groups, as well as Haiti's leading mobile phone carrier and countless volunteers, the Coast Guard is part of an emergency contact network for Haitians to send text messages requesting aid. Those involved in the effort also monitor Facebook and Twitter postings for information indicating where supplies are needed.

To get the word out about the new program, the distress code number - 4636 - was sent to every mobile phone on the Haitian network. Word of the programme also went out on local Haitian radio stations.

Text messages from Haitians saying that they needed food and water helped identify a tent city that the American military and relief workers were previously unaware of, Mr Bank said.

And more Haitians are using the service every day, he said, noting the increase in volunteers needed to translate the messages from Haitian Creole into English.

Once the messages make it to his computer screen, Mr Bank passes the information along to military personnel at the United States Southern Command in South Florida, which in turn coordinates with American military personnel in Haiti to help them locate those in need.

The choice to base the emergency network on text messaging was because of the damage Haiti's telecommunications system suffered in the quake. Fallen cell towers and overloaded networks made telephone calls nearly impossible.

However, text messaging was still available and widely used among Haitians trying to locate friends and loved ones among the rubble. Even the least sophisticated of cellphones has a text-messaging option, noted Mr Josh Nesbit, co-founder of FrontlineSMS:Medic, an aid group that provides free open-source software communication for medical workers in developing countries. He helped set up the Haiti emergency program.

Since its conception just hours after the Jan 12 earthquake, the joint programme has expanded to include regular news and information updates to those who have reached out through the emergency line, telling them where to find food relief and seek medical attention. The New York Times

From TODAY, Monday, 22-Feb-2010

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Sit down and talk it out

I say, this is hitting the 'self-righteous' on the head with a nail… ooopppsss! I mean hitting the nail right on the head of the 'self-righteous'! Errhh… Whatever, this is hitting the point right home. Kudos!

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You can't force people to care; neither should those in need be rude about it

Letter from Esther Lim

THERE has been much debate over the issue of giving up of seats on the MRT to those who are in need.

In trying to encourage social graciousness and compassion, let's not forget that nobody owes anybody anything. It's not wrong to be hopeful, but I'm not sure you should expect someone to give up his seat for you when needed.

It is simply impossible to command someone to be compassionate. It has to come from the heart.

Why can't someone who's entitled to a seat sit comfortably? Why is he expected to be on a constant lookout for anyone who needs a seat more than him? If that's the case, I would rather stand at a cozy corner and do whatever I choose instead of being seated, lest I be judged for not offering my seat because I was too engrossed in my book or taking forty winks.

Social graciousness is also about being tolerant, understanding and less judgmental of those who do not appear to have lived up to expected norms. I do not think it right for someone full of righteous indignation to fulfil his personal need to do good, regardless of whether the situation warrants it, such as by demanding that someone give up his seat for someone else.

Perhaps the three groups - the needy, the passive commuters and the self-righteous - should strive to come to a common understanding.

The needy can be hopeful but should treat kindness as a privilege, not an obligation. Commuters should be encouraged, and not pressured or made to feel obligated or be judged.

The self-righteous should exercise discretion when deciding whether the situation truly warrants their interference, bearing in mind that their interference does not make them any more compassionate than those whom they victimised. Someone who is silently enduring a bad case of migraine might well need a seat more than a pregnant woman in her second trimester carrying a few shopping bags and chatting merrily on her mobile phone.

From TODAY, Voices – Monday, 06-Jul-2009; see the source article here.

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19 arrested for suspected loansharking activities in islandwide raid

By Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 June 2009 2042 hrs

SINGAPORE: Police have arrested 19 people for suspected involvement in a loansharking syndicate, making this the largest number of loansharking-related arrests resulting from a single operation this year.

18 men and a woman, aged between 19 and 40 years old, were taken into custody following an island-wide operation early Monday morning,

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the Police Intelligence Department raided various locations and seized more than S$35,000 in cash.

Other items seized included computers, mobile phones, storage media and suspected debtor records.

Police said preliminary investigations indicate that the loansharking syndicate was also involved in loanshark-related harassment in connection with the illegal loans.

First-time offenders found guilty of operating a business as an unlicensed moneylender may be fined at least S$20,000 and up to S$200,000, jailed a maximum of two years, or both.

Repeat offenders face mandatory imprisonment of up to five years, including a fine of up to S$200,000.

Persons found guilty of loanshark harassment may be fined at least S$4,000 and up to S$40,000, or jailed up to three years, or both.

They could also be caned if any damage to property or hurt to persons was caused while committing the acts of harassment.

- CNA/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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The great Internet divide

Image via Wikipedia

An area where parents should be fully aware of, especially if their kids are very active in the online world. Personal and private information can be easily given to unscrupulous users prowling the world wide web…

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SURFING THE NET

by Alicia Wong

05:55 AM Jun 05, 2009

THE extent by which parents underestimate their children's use of the Internet appears to have "increased significantly" over the years, noted chairman of the Internet and Media Advisory Committee Eugene Seow.

A 2001 poll by the now-disbanded Parents Advisory Group for the Internet had found youth spending 11.4 hours a week online, while parents estimated their usage at 8.6 hours.

But a local survey by Symantec revealed yesterday that teens spent nearly twice as much time online as their parents believed. They assume children only access the Internet at home, explained Symantec's consumer business lead of the Asia South Region, Mr Effendy Ibrahim.

The findings show "parents do not have quite a good handle in terms of where their kids are online", he noted, highlighting the dangers youth face, such as cyber-bullying and security threats.

But do parents need to know everything their children get up to online in order to protect them? Nearly four in 10 admitted to spying on their kids' online usage, while 46 per cent have installed parental control software.

WHAT PARENTS THINK	WHAT KIDS ARE REALLY DOING
61% claim to know what their kid is looking at online	Increasingly accessing the Net at Internet cafés, friend's place, via mobile phones
2% think their kids access illegal/unlicensed materials	25% actually do access illegal/unlicensed materials
98% don't know if their kids access pornography	20% of teens do access pornography
74% aren't aware their kids chat with strangers	48% chat with strangers online more than once a week
90% are unaware if their kids share personal details online	43% are careless with their personal details online

Symantec survey conducted in April and Ma y of 397 adults and 35 teens aged 15 to 19

Parent can set rules for Internet usage even if they have limited knowledge of the Internet, said Mr Effendy, citing a free online tool (up until 2010) for parents by Symantec.

Director of Hougang Sheng Hong Family Service Centre (FSC) Sara Tan said: "(Youth need) space for secrecy ... They may not tell you everything, but it's important to open up the channels for communication."

Parents can join support groups, such as one at Hougang Sheng Hong FSC, to understand children's interest in the Web.

Youth can also register at a website that records the sites they surf and send it to a chosen "accountability person", said senior executive social worker Ong Ai Weig, from Fei Yue FSC.

But putting matters into perspective, she noted that while it is "very common" for youth to give personal information online and meet up with online pals, "the majority exercise discretion (and) are pretty street smart".

In her experience, out of 10 youth, only one or less would "get into serious problems".

From TODAY, News – Friday, 05-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

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