Lifeboat Foundation

At the Disrupt SF 2017 Hackathon, a massive swath of the 102 companies that took the stage on Sunday presented hacks with disaster relief in mind. From ResQme to ResQMi to RescueMe, if you can think of a phrase with the word “rescue” in it, it probably showed up on stage among the roughly 30 emergency and disaster related hacks.

Most of the disaster-related apps that presented today mentioned the recent events of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in their pitches, observing that tech should be able to pair victims, resources and rescue workers far better than existing services. Many of the rescue-oriented apps that took the stage acknowledged that mobile data services usually go down during these events and the vast majority of them offered an SMS-based version of their hack.

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All hurricane models now agree, hurricane irma is going to slam straight into south florida.

Miami south beach to get 10 feet of sea surge.

If you’ve ever lived in South Florida during hurricane season, chances are you’ve learned to read the various storm projection models like a fortuneteller scanning tarot cards. “I’m sorry, but the European model shows a far stronger eastern trend than the GFS,” you’ve probably said in a serious tone at…

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You know those jokes about how people first go online and on social media in times of emergencies before they actually do something about said emergency? Well it’s time to turn that new habit on its head and actually make it useful. Florida governor Rick Scott urged residents to take advantage of apps like Gas Buddy, Google Maps, and Expedia to get the latest information on gas availability and road closures in preparing for hurricane Irma’s landfall. Of course, only before and after the storm, not during and especially not inside it.”

“The devastation in Houston left in Harvey’s wake has sent Florida scrambling to prepare for an even more frightening Irma. This has caused no small amount of panic buying of supplies and gas. The latter has been especially problematic and one that cannot be easily solved. The only temporary answer is to make sure you can actually find an open gas station before you actually get there.”

“Gas Buddy is stepping up to task to go beyond the app’s original purpose. Times like these, people are less concerned about finding the cheapest prices than they are finding gas in the first place. Like in Harvey’s case, Gas Buddy has activated its Fuel Tracker to show stations that have no power, no gas, or both. This information is sourced from users who already had the misfortune of finding that out the hard way.”

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Storm makes landfall on U.S. Virigin Islands and Puerto Rico Wednesday as Florida Keys evacuation order takes effect.

Climate change, they didn’t listen then, perhaps they’ll listen now.

Crippled water system, chemical plant blaze, vivid examples of Harvey’s cascading effects.

Authorities said at least 45 people were killed due to the storm, a number expected to increase.

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This is in addition to 47 already known about and eruption would melt more ice in region affected by climate change.

Click on photo to start video.

http://reut.rs/2va7JDI via @ReutersTV

Weatherwatch A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosions.

The report found that more than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 – the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established – can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities. The scale of historical emissions associated with these fossil fuel producers is large enough to have contributed significantly to climate change, according to the report.

A relatively small number of fossil fuel producers and their investors could hold the key to tackling climate change.