Are you a "techie" with a penchant for serving the community? Uncle Sam wants you! earthquake_disaster_topic_animationBut hold on, now - this isn't a "Geek" exclusive venue... there's a place for entrepreneurs, community responders and CERT members, bureaucrats, paparazzi, and disaster survivors, too. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Innovation for Disaster Response and Recovery Initiative has launched a new public resource - disasters.data.gov - to foster collaboration and continual improvement of disaster-related open data, free tools, and new ways to empower survivors, first responders, and all levels of government with critical information and resources.

Developers can also:

  • Use our open datasets to provide products or services for disaster preparedness
  • Build upon existing open source apps and tools
  • Host a data jam or civic hackathon to build solutions for identified challenges
  • Share your projects with us at disastertech@ostp.gov

Tech Entrepreneurs can also:

  • Host a workshop for defining challenge statements and potential solutions
  • Host a data jam or civic hackathon to build solutions for identified challenges
  • Have a conversation with innovation experts, discussing technology gaps and opportunities
  • Share your projects with us at disastertech@ostp.gov

Government Officials can also:

  • Identify and share challenge statements with us at disastertech@ostp.gov
  • Consider how innovation and technology can help your team and any collaborative projects
  • Host a workshop for defining challenge statements and potential solutions
  • Have a conversation with innovation experts, discussing technology gaps and opportunities
  • Consider testing an emerging or existing tool as part of a training or exercise

First Responders can also:

  • Identify and share challenge statements with us at disastertech@ostp.gov
  • Consider how innovation and technology can help your teams (and partner with other stakeholders)
  • Consider having an innovation team member “shadow” responders for a day to identify places where technology could help
  • Consider testing an emerging or existing tool as part of a training or exercise

Survivors can also:

  • Share your story with us at disastertech@ostp.gov
  • Consider how innovation and technology can help you
  • Join a virtual network to access information and resources
  • Have a conversation with innovation experts and other stakeholders interested in providing assistance

Journalists can also:

  • Help capture stories from survivors, first responders, and other stakeholders
  • Identify and share insight about opportunities where technology and innovation are needed
  • Distill and share information in the wake of a disaster

Volunteers can also:

  • Consider how innovation and technology can help you serve communities before, during, and after disasters
  • Share your story with us at disastertech@ostp.gov
  • Consider both in-person and digital volunteering
  • Consider using technology to better organize your volunteer network
Some highlights:
  • "Types of Disasters" Landing Pages: Categorizes open data sets, apps, and tools to make relevant resources easier to find.
  • Apps & Tools: The portal includes apps and tools that can be deployed at minimal cost by first responders, emergency managers, volunteer organizations, survivors, and other stakeholders. The apps and tools featured were presented at the White House Innovation for Disaster Response and Recovery Demo Day