How progressive organizations are helping

That "radical liberal organization" Moveon.org has put together a clearing house for New Orleans flood survivors in need of housing to be matched with people who have housing.

Now, Air America Radio has set up public voicemail:

Air America Radio's Public Voicemail is a way for disconnected people to communicate in the wake of Katrina.

Here's how it works:

Call the toll-free number above, enter your everyday phone number, and then record a message. Other people who know your everyday phone number (even if it doesn't work anymore) can call Emergency Voicemail, enter the phone number they associate with you, and hear your message.

You can also search for messages left by people whose phone numbers you know.
Air America Radio will leave Public Voicemail in service for as long as this crisis continues. You can call it whenever you are trying to locate someone, or if you are trying to be found.

Obviously, for this to work, people need to know about it so please forward the number to as many people as you can. You can find out more about Katrina and the affected areas at www.airamericaradio.com.

Air America Radio brings you Emergency VoiceMail in conjunction with VoodooVox.

This allows survivors who somehow manage to get to a pay phone or borrow a cell phone to leave one message in one place that all his/her loved ones can use to find out if he/she is OK.

It occurred to me today that there are so many ways that the internet is being used in the aftermath of this disaster that are new just in the four years since 9/11. Only four years ago, the primary means of communication was those heartbreaking handmade "Missing" posters that were all around New York. Now, we have matching services for temporary housing, voice mail clearing houses like this, and messageboards are in common enough use now that the New Orleans Times Picayune has boards for people searching for loved ones, passing on useful information, flood reports, and more.