From the Washington Post: Those displaced and dispossessed by Hurricane Katrina are slowly getting their lives back, communicating with relatives through a series of improvised wireless networks set up by a band of volunteer techies, who have taken to the shelters in northeastern Louisiana.
“With few reliable communications systems in place, people and companies from around the country are converging on the region to create improvised networks that give survivors and emergency personnel ways to talk and coordinate efforts,” reported the Washington Post.
Though local networks are slowly getting back on their feet, some places remain barren pieces of communication wasteland, and several service providers have taken it upon themselves to bring Internet access to evacuees in such areas.
In Jackson, Miss., Dulles-based America Online has parked an 18-wheeler bearing 20 Internet-ready computers for those at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds, a major shelter. And at the Mangham Baptist Church, wireless service provider Mac Dearman set up an Internet phone, allowing people to access the outside world. Most used the opportunity to search for loved ones and to fill out Federal Emergency Management Agency forms to get disaster aid.
About Janine Kahn
