Citation
(2001), "SUMA makes novel use of the Internet in El Salvador earthquake", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310eab.002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
SUMA makes novel use of the Internet in El Salvador earthquake
SUMA makes novel use of the Internet in El Salvador earthquake
El Salvador's National Emergency Committee (COEN) activated the country's national SUMA team, following the January earthquake, to sort inventory and classify incoming humanitarian relief at the anticipated points of entry. At the request of El Salvador's government, PAHO and FUNDESUMA, the NGO that manages SUMA's logistical operations, sent a support team from Costa Rica to help in this major operation.
The earthquake in El Salvador marked the first time SUMA used the Internet to alert a disaster stricken country about what humanitarian aid is on the way. The Government of Colombia (whose national Red Cross Society helped to create the SUMA system and has been one of SUMA's strongest supporters in the Americas) used the specialised SUMA warehouse module to register donations that were collected by the Colombian Red Cross and Caracol, a local radio and TV station. Colombia then sent this detailed information via Internet to El Salvador's SUMA team, in advance of its actual arrival.
Similarly, the National Emergency Commission in Honduras (COPECO), in collaboration with the Red Cross and the Fire Department, activated its national SUMA team to register data on emergency supplies. As these supplies were en route to the neighbouring country of El Salavador, Honduras' SUMA team also sent an advanced report by Internet. This pattern of sending information on donations before the supplies actually arrive, using a common methodology and criteria for classifying and assigning priorities to the supplies, greatly aided the recipient country by allowing them to quickly get the most important and urgently needed aid to those who needed it.
(Disasters: Preparedness and Mitigation in the Americas, No. 83, April 2001)