Aid 2.0: mobile relief application expanding into a global market - IFRC

The TERA (Trilogy Emergency Relief Application) system is poised to expand within this humanitarian context. Born out of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti through a partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Trilogy International Partners, this SMS-based, two-way communication system enables the Red Cross to send blasts of messages to defined segments of a population. To date, 100 million messages have reached nearly 3.25 million people in Haiti with critical advice on cholera prevention, first aid and, most recently, Hurricane Sandy preparedness. “Something as technologically basic as SMS has had a significant impact on the speed and quality of our relief operations,” says Will Rogers, IFRC coordinator for beneficiary communication and one of the original TERA collaborators. “It has given community members a larger stake in rebuilding.” Of the 74 per cent of people in Haiti who reported receiving Red Cross messages in 2011, 96 per cent said that they found the information useful and 83 per cent said they took action as a result. Disaster management has evolved to recognize that an effective response requires both responders and beneficiaries to take action based on information they receive from each other.