The Google.org foundation is funding a new non-profit project called Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disaster (InSTEDD). Google.org’s executive director, epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, says the project hopes “to fulfill the much-needed role of an independent agent bringing the technological, medical, and organizational skills necessary to help the humanitarian aid community accomplish (early detection of public health threats and disasters), and ultimately help them to make the world a safer place.”

See: Twitter, Facebook called on for higher purpose

Microsoft has released a new software and services platform, HealthVault, to help people store and manage their health information online, as well as search for health information.  This looks like an excellent resource for use by people in disaster-prone areas, such as hurricane and tornado alleys.  Keeping health-related records “off-site” through a service such as HealthVault would enable people who are suddenly displaced to retrieve information about prescriptions, medical records, etc. from anywhere.  We know, from the lessons learned courtesy of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that many people who were forced to evacuate were not able to remember the names of their medications in many cases, recalling only the color and the number of pills they usually took.

Could promoting this be a role for librarians, especially in hospital settings?

Here’s an article that Richard Boss wrote back in 2002 entitled Disaster Planning for Computers and Networks. It will give you a good general understanding of computer networks and disaster planning. In our disaster plan, our local procedures are covered in LTSD (Library Technology Services And Development) Recovery Plan. The University of Virginia’s ITC (Information Technology & Communication) department handles the broader issues related to network recovery.