I just found about this new tool as the fires burned in Santa Barbara. And when I say, “brand new’, I mean it launched yesterday.With the Sylmar Fires burning today…they are quite busy already!This cool tool keeps you informed about disasters in real time using social media.

CrisisWire.comCrisiswire’s gathers information about crises. This site is contains real-time info about what’s happening during a crisis.

A bit brief right now, but hey, they’ve been up less than 24 hours. Let’s give them a break. Here’s the basic concept as I found out on Mashable, from site founder Nate Ritter:

“During a disaster people spend valuable time searching the Internet and waiting for the media to report on their city, their neighborhood, their street,” Nate told us. “While main stream media serves a vital role during disasters, it is impossible to update the population on everything that is happening during a crisis.”

From a green and social responsibility standpoint, this is important news if it takes off. Each year disasters claim hundreds of thousands of homes, wilderness, animal habitats and businesses. This may turn out to be the best early response system we will have. Already MSM news sources are using it to update their reports.

Read more of this story »