WEBVTT 00:00:03.253 --> 00:00:06.571 (Video) Newscaster: There's a large path of destruction here in town. 00:00:06.595 --> 00:00:09.513 ... pulling trees from the ground, shattering windows, 00:00:09.537 --> 00:00:11.306 taking the roofs off of homes ... NOTE Paragraph 00:00:12.377 --> 00:00:14.412 Caitria O'Neill: That was me 00:00:14.436 --> 00:00:17.793 in front of our house in Monson, Massachusetts last June. 00:00:17.817 --> 00:00:21.158 After an EF3 tornado ripped straight through our town 00:00:21.182 --> 00:00:22.661 and took parts of our roof off, 00:00:22.685 --> 00:00:24.730 I decided to stay in Massachusetts, 00:00:24.754 --> 00:00:26.659 instead of pursuing the master's program 00:00:26.683 --> 00:00:29.482 I had moved my boxes home that afternoon for. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:29.906 --> 00:00:32.737 Morgan O'Neill: So, on June 1, we weren't disaster experts, 00:00:32.761 --> 00:00:34.835 but on June 3, we started faking it. 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:36.865 This experience changed our lives, 00:00:36.889 --> 00:00:39.326 and now we're trying to change the experience. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:41.795 CO: So, tornadoes don't happen in Massachusetts, 00:00:41.819 --> 00:00:45.320 and I was cleverly standing in the front yard when one came over the hill. 00:00:45.344 --> 00:00:48.644 After a lamppost flew by, my family and I sprinted into the basement. 00:00:48.668 --> 00:00:51.564 Trees were thrown against the house, the windows exploded. 00:00:51.588 --> 00:00:53.457 When we finally got out the back door, 00:00:53.481 --> 00:00:55.458 transformers were burning in the street. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:55.775 --> 00:00:57.212 MO: I was here in Boston. 00:00:57.236 --> 00:00:58.953 I'm a PhD student at MIT, 00:00:58.977 --> 00:01:01.270 and I happen to study atmospheric science. 00:01:01.683 --> 00:01:03.031 Actually, it gets weirder -- 00:01:03.055 --> 00:01:06.349 I was in the museum of science at the time the tornado hit, 00:01:06.373 --> 00:01:08.204 playing with the tornado display -- NOTE Paragraph 00:01:08.228 --> 00:01:09.406 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:10.581 so I missed her call. 00:01:10.605 --> 00:01:14.349 I get a call from Caitria, hear the news, and start tracking the radar online 00:01:14.373 --> 00:01:17.803 to call the family back when another supercell was forming in their area. 00:01:17.827 --> 00:01:20.268 I drove home late that night with batteries and ice. 00:01:20.292 --> 00:01:22.605 We live across the street from a historic church 00:01:22.629 --> 00:01:25.294 that had lost its very iconic steeple in the storm. 00:01:25.318 --> 00:01:27.783 It had become a community gathering place overnight. 00:01:27.807 --> 00:01:31.111 The town hall and the police department had also suffered direct hits, 00:01:31.135 --> 00:01:34.765 and so people wanting to help or needing information went to the church. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:34.789 --> 00:01:37.824 CO: We walked to the church because we heard they had hot meals, 00:01:37.848 --> 00:01:39.720 but when we arrived, we found problems. 00:01:39.744 --> 00:01:42.189 There were a couple large, sweaty men with chainsaws 00:01:42.213 --> 00:01:45.623 standing in the center of the church, but nobody knew where to send them 00:01:45.647 --> 00:01:47.946 because no one knew the extent of the damage yet. 00:01:47.970 --> 00:01:50.121 As we watched, they became frustrated and left 00:01:50.145 --> 00:01:52.100 to go find somebody to help on their own. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:52.124 --> 00:01:54.783 MO: So we started organizing. Why? It had to be done. 00:01:54.807 --> 00:01:58.250 We found Pastor Bob and offered to give the response some infrastructure. 00:01:58.274 --> 00:02:01.446 And then, armed with just two laptops and one air card, 00:02:01.470 --> 00:02:03.560 we built a recovery machine. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:05.488 --> 00:02:08.082 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:08.106 --> 00:02:11.114 CO: That was a tornado, and everyone's heading to the church 00:02:11.138 --> 00:02:12.804 to drop things off and volunteer. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:12.828 --> 00:02:14.408 MO: Everyone's donating clothing. 00:02:14.432 --> 00:02:16.826 We should inventory the donations piling up here. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:16.850 --> 00:02:19.787 CO: And we need a hotline. Can you make a Google Voice number? NOTE Paragraph 00:02:19.811 --> 00:02:22.393 MO: Sure. And we need to tell people what not to bring. 00:02:22.417 --> 00:02:24.830 I'll make a Facebook account. Can you print flyers? NOTE Paragraph 00:02:24.854 --> 00:02:27.910 CO: Yeah, but we don't even know what houses are accepting help. 00:02:27.934 --> 00:02:29.939 We need to canvas and send out volunteers. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:29.963 --> 00:02:32.076 MO: We need to tell people what not to bring. 00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:34.104 Hey, there's a news truck. I'll tell them. 00:02:34.128 --> 00:02:37.152 CO: You got my number off the news? We don't need more freezers! NOTE Paragraph 00:02:37.176 --> 00:02:41.180 (Together) MO: Insurance won't cover it? CO: Juice boxes coming in an hour? 00:02:41.204 --> 00:02:42.828 Together: Someone get me Post-its! NOTE Paragraph 00:02:42.852 --> 00:02:43.853 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:43.877 --> 00:02:47.554 CO: And then the rest of the community figured out that we had answers. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.578 --> 00:02:51.219 MO: I can donate three water heaters, but someone needs to come pick them up. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:51.243 --> 00:02:52.790 CO: My car is in my living room! NOTE Paragraph 00:02:52.814 --> 00:02:55.639 MO: My boyscout troop would like to rebuild 12 mailboxes. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:55.663 --> 00:02:58.533 CO: My puppy is missing and insurance doesn't cover chimneys. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:58.557 --> 00:03:01.620 MO: My church group of 50 would like housing and meals for a week 00:03:01.644 --> 00:03:02.974 while we repair properties. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:02.998 --> 00:03:05.911 CO: You sent me to that place on Washington Street yesterday, 00:03:05.935 --> 00:03:07.589 and now I'm covered in poison ivy. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:07.613 --> 00:03:08.712 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:08.736 --> 00:03:10.502 So this is what filled our days. 00:03:10.526 --> 00:03:12.740 We had to learn how to answer questions quickly 00:03:12.764 --> 00:03:15.014 and to solve problems in a minute or less; 00:03:15.038 --> 00:03:17.238 otherwise, something more urgent would come up, 00:03:17.262 --> 00:03:18.596 and it wouldn't get done. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:21.427 MO: We didn't get our authority from the board of selectmen 00:03:21.451 --> 00:03:24.307 or the emergency management director or the United Way. 00:03:24.331 --> 00:03:26.957 We just started answering questions and making decisions 00:03:26.981 --> 00:03:29.616 because someone -- anyone -- had to. 00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:31.995 And why not me? I'm a campaign organizer. 00:03:32.019 --> 00:03:33.187 I'm good at Facebook. 00:03:33.211 --> 00:03:34.489 And there's two of me. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:34.513 --> 00:03:36.059 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:36.083 --> 00:03:39.611 CO: The point is, if there's a flood or a fire or a hurricane, 00:03:39.635 --> 00:03:41.396 you, or somebody like you, 00:03:41.420 --> 00:03:44.031 are going to step up and start organizing things. 00:03:44.055 --> 00:03:46.332 The other point is that it is hard. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:46.356 --> 00:03:49.047 MO: Lying on the ground after another 17-hour day, 00:03:49.071 --> 00:03:50.878 Caitria and I would empty our pockets 00:03:50.902 --> 00:03:53.666 and try to place dozens of scraps of paper into context -- 00:03:53.690 --> 00:03:56.556 all bits of information that had to be remembered and matched 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:57.808 in order to help someone. 00:03:57.832 --> 00:03:59.991 After another day and a shower at the shelter, 00:04:00.015 --> 00:04:02.188 we realized it shouldn't be this hard. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:02.212 --> 00:04:05.057 CO: In a country like ours where we breathe Wi-Fi, 00:04:05.081 --> 00:04:08.612 leveraging technology for a faster recovery should be a no-brainer. 00:04:08.636 --> 00:04:11.180 Systems like the ones that we were creating on the fly 00:04:11.204 --> 00:04:12.497 could exist ahead of time. 00:04:12.521 --> 00:04:16.050 And if some community member is in this organizing position 00:04:16.074 --> 00:04:18.620 in every area after every disaster, 00:04:18.644 --> 00:04:20.446 these tools should exist. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:21.049 --> 00:04:22.956 MO: So, we decided to build them: 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:26.490 a recovery in a box, something that could be deployed after every disaster 00:04:26.514 --> 00:04:28.010 by any local organizer. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:28.437 --> 00:04:31.820 CO: I decided to stay in the country, give up the master's in Moscow 00:04:31.844 --> 00:04:33.908 and to work full-time to make this happen. 00:04:33.932 --> 00:04:35.425 In the course of the past year, 00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:38.909 we've become experts in the field of community-powered disaster recovery. 00:04:38.933 --> 00:04:41.417 And there are three main problems that we've observed 00:04:41.441 --> 00:04:43.131 with the way things work currently. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:43.496 --> 00:04:44.647 MO: The tools. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:44.671 --> 00:04:48.606 Large aid organizations are exceptional at bringing massive resources to bear 00:04:48.630 --> 00:04:49.793 after a disaster, 00:04:49.817 --> 00:04:53.232 but they often fulfill very specific missions, and then they leave. 00:04:53.256 --> 00:04:57.474 This leaves local residents to deal with the thousands of spontaneous volunteers, 00:04:57.498 --> 00:04:58.657 thousands of donations, 00:04:58.681 --> 00:05:00.688 and all with no training and no tools. 00:05:00.712 --> 00:05:03.840 So they use Post-its or Excel or Facebook. 00:05:03.864 --> 00:05:07.078 But none of these tools allow you to value high-priority information 00:05:07.102 --> 00:05:09.571 amidst all of the photos and well-wishes. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:09.595 --> 00:05:10.905 CO: The timing. 00:05:10.929 --> 00:05:14.097 Disaster relief is essentially a backwards political campaign. 00:05:14.121 --> 00:05:16.843 In a political campaign, you start with no interest 00:05:16.867 --> 00:05:19.049 and no capacity to turn that into action. 00:05:19.073 --> 00:05:20.284 You build both gradually, 00:05:20.308 --> 00:05:23.459 until a moment of peak mobilization at the time of the election. 00:05:23.483 --> 00:05:26.218 In a disaster, however, you start with all of the interest 00:05:26.242 --> 00:05:27.558 and none of the capacity. 00:05:27.582 --> 00:05:29.654 And you've only got about seven days 00:05:29.678 --> 00:05:33.117 to capture 50 percent of all of the Web searches that will ever be made 00:05:33.141 --> 00:05:34.556 to help your area. 00:05:34.580 --> 00:05:36.167 Then some sporting event happens, 00:05:36.191 --> 00:05:39.207 and you've got only the resources that you've collected thus far 00:05:39.231 --> 00:05:41.584 to meet the next five years of recovery needs. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:42.121 --> 00:05:44.610 This is the slide for Katrina. 00:05:45.047 --> 00:05:47.145 This is the curve for Joplin. 00:05:47.510 --> 00:05:50.293 And this is the curve for the Dallas tornadoes in April, 00:05:50.317 --> 00:05:51.667 where we deployed software. 00:05:51.995 --> 00:05:53.153 There's a gap here. 00:05:53.693 --> 00:05:56.902 Affected households have to wait for the insurance adjuster to visit 00:05:56.926 --> 00:05:59.664 before they can start accepting help on their properties. 00:05:59.688 --> 00:06:02.670 And you've only got about four days of interest in Dallas. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:03.829 --> 00:06:05.160 MO: Data. 00:06:05.184 --> 00:06:07.018 Data is inherently unsexy, 00:06:07.042 --> 00:06:09.264 but it can jump-start an area's recovery. 00:06:09.288 --> 00:06:12.305 FEMA and the state will pay 85 percent of the cost 00:06:12.329 --> 00:06:13.924 of a federally-declared disaster, 00:06:13.948 --> 00:06:16.589 leaving the town to pay the last 15 percent of the bill. 00:06:16.613 --> 00:06:18.222 Now that expense can be huge, 00:06:18.246 --> 00:06:22.200 but if the town can mobilize X amount of volunteers for Y hours, 00:06:22.224 --> 00:06:27.065 the dollar value of that labor used goes toward the town's contribution. 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:28.417 But who knows that? 00:06:28.782 --> 00:06:31.004 Now try to imagine the sinking feeling you get 00:06:31.028 --> 00:06:34.876 when you've just sent out 2,000 volunteers and you can't prove it. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:35.622 --> 00:06:38.059 CO: These are three problems with a common solution. 00:06:38.083 --> 00:06:41.112 If we can get the right tools at the right time 00:06:41.136 --> 00:06:43.102 to the people who will inevitably step up 00:06:43.126 --> 00:06:45.481 and start putting their communities back together, 00:06:45.505 --> 00:06:48.207 we can create new standards in disaster recovery. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:48.231 --> 00:06:51.165 MO: We needed canvasing tools, donations databasing, 00:06:51.189 --> 00:06:54.179 needs reporting, remote volunteer access, 00:06:54.203 --> 00:06:56.050 all in an easy-to-use website. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:56.074 --> 00:06:57.511 CO: And we needed help. 00:06:57.535 --> 00:07:00.699 Alvin, our software engineer and co-founder, has built these tools. 00:07:00.723 --> 00:07:04.794 Chris and Bill have volunteered their time to use operations and partnerships. 00:07:04.818 --> 00:07:08.310 And we've been flying into disaster areas since this past January, 00:07:08.334 --> 00:07:10.683 setting up software, training residents 00:07:10.707 --> 00:07:14.945 and licensing the software to areas that are preparing for disasters. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:14.969 --> 00:07:17.795 MO: One of our first launches was after the Dallas tornadoes 00:07:17.819 --> 00:07:18.970 this past April. 00:07:18.994 --> 00:07:21.624 We flew into a town that had a static, outdated website 00:07:21.648 --> 00:07:24.614 and a frenetic Facebook feed, trying to structure the response, 00:07:24.638 --> 00:07:26.026 and we launched our platform. 00:07:26.050 --> 00:07:28.292 All of the interest came in the first four days, 00:07:28.316 --> 00:07:30.286 but by the time they lost the news cycle, 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:31.747 that's when the needs came in, 00:07:31.771 --> 00:07:34.941 yet they had this massive resource of what people were able to give 00:07:34.965 --> 00:07:37.729 and they've been able to meet the needs of their residents. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:37.753 --> 00:07:39.809 CO: So it's working, but it could be better. 00:07:39.833 --> 00:07:42.511 Emergency preparedness is a big deal in disaster recovery 00:07:42.535 --> 00:07:44.784 because it makes towns safer and more resilient. 00:07:44.808 --> 00:07:47.699 Imagine if we could have these systems ready to go in a place 00:07:47.723 --> 00:07:49.496 before a disaster. 00:07:49.972 --> 00:07:51.780 So that's what we're working on. 00:07:51.804 --> 00:07:55.013 We're working on getting the software to places so people expect it, 00:07:55.037 --> 00:07:56.378 so people know how to use it 00:07:56.402 --> 00:07:58.184 and so it can be filled ahead of time 00:07:58.208 --> 00:08:00.590 with that micro-information that drives recovery. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:00.614 --> 00:08:02.447 MO: It's not rocket science. 00:08:02.471 --> 00:08:04.690 These tools are obvious and people want them. 00:08:04.714 --> 00:08:07.142 In our hometown, we trained a half-dozen residents 00:08:07.166 --> 00:08:08.888 to run these Web tools on their own, 00:08:08.912 --> 00:08:11.100 because Caitria and I live here, in Boston. 00:08:11.124 --> 00:08:14.100 They took to it immediately, and now they are forces of nature. 00:08:14.124 --> 00:08:17.079 There are over three volunteer groups working almost every day, 00:08:17.103 --> 00:08:19.111 and have been since June 1 of last year, 00:08:19.135 --> 00:08:22.718 to make sure these residents get what they need and get back in their homes. 00:08:22.742 --> 00:08:25.065 They have hotlines and spreadsheets and data. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:25.089 --> 00:08:27.179 CO: And that makes a difference. 00:08:27.203 --> 00:08:31.057 June 1 this year marked the one-year anniversary of the Monson tornado, 00:08:31.081 --> 00:08:34.374 and our community's never been more connected or more empowered. 00:08:34.398 --> 00:08:38.630 We've been able to see the same transformation in Texas and in Alabama. 00:08:38.654 --> 00:08:40.477 Because it doesn't take Harvard or MIT 00:08:40.501 --> 00:08:42.566 to fly in and fix problems after a disaster; 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:43.914 it takes a local. 00:08:43.938 --> 00:08:46.793 No matter how good an aid organization is at what they do, 00:08:46.817 --> 00:08:48.492 they eventually have to go home. 00:08:48.516 --> 00:08:50.730 But if you give locals the tools, 00:08:50.754 --> 00:08:53.559 if you show them what they can do to recover, 00:08:53.583 --> 00:08:55.138 they become experts. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:57.007 --> 00:08:58.031 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:58.055 --> 00:08:59.207 MO: All right. Let's go. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:59.231 --> 00:09:02.460 (Applause)