First and best reports are from social media

7.0 Haitian earthquake reported in social media

Twitter, LiveLeak and other social media are reporting the story of the Haitian earthquake faster than the media giants.

I was still working on reporting stories when the quake broke but there was nothing more than the news it was Haiti that got hit with a 7.0 Richter quake.

A few blogs carried the story and Wyclef Jean’s Twitter carried this message 20 hours ago “news!Haiti just got hit with a Major EarthQuake please call your family out there Now!” Wyclef who was born in Haiti immediately set up a call back donation fund and started the relief fund.

“Please text “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI.Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help..please help if you can”

You can also donate directly to Yele Earthquake Fund which is set up on Wyclef’s website.

The mainstream media were using talking heads from Montreal, Washington and Florida when I went to bed at midnight. At 3 AM I got up and there were the first cell phone videos streaming into LiveLink. 7.0 Richter Earthquake rocks Haiti early videos and Damage from earthquake in La Cayes Haiti.

The estimates of dead are now reaching 100,000 plus from CNN but the reports are not-corroborated. Hundreds of thousands dead in Haiti quake, PM says

Twitter’s Human Touch Amid The Horror Of Haiti By Barnsey, Liveleak Live – Current Event

(Amateur Videos,Aftermath)Minutes after last night’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, Twitter and other social networking sites were abuzz with witness accounts, photographs and appeals for help.

Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-born musician and record producer – who used much of the wealth generated by the success of the band The Fugees to set up Yele Haiti, a charity to improve living conditions More.. in the Caribbean country – was among the first to launch an appeal for financial aid through Twitter. In his latest tweet, he is waiting for a plane to take him to Haiti via the Dominican Republic.

Jean’s appeal uses a reverse-charge text number for users in the United States. His Twitter page has 1.3 million followers.

In Haiti itself, Carel Pedre, a local celebrity DJ and TV presenter, has been offering his eyewitness reports to international news organisations such as the BBC and CNN via his Twitter feed. His images of the aftermath of the disaster have been picked up by the Associated Press.

Mr Pedre’s tweets consist of offers to help contact worried Haitians abroad. Such has been the response that his latest entry reads: “Facebook Get Rid Of My 5K Friends Limit Now! I Have more than 2,000 Requests From Haitians All Over The World Who Want To Know What’s Going on”.

This latest disaster highlights the way social media sites have come to the fore as a means of raising global awareness and cash. First-hand accounts and contacts via sites such as Facebook and Twitter bring humanity and immediacy to major news events that professional accounts can sometimes lack.

On the Facebook fan page of Karlito, a local musician, there is one worried message from a fan: “Where are you????? talk to us, PLEASE!!!” Karlito has not posted since yesterday afternoon.

Charities such as Oxfam have been quick to harness the power of social networking. Sarah Brown of Oxfam said that the response through Oxfam’s Twitter feed had been remarkable. “Social networking sites such as Twitter allow us to get the news out there as fast as possible, and the response in terms of re-tweeting from our 8,000 followers has been amazing,” she said.

In its latest news release, sent out via Twitter, Oxfam notes: “More than 85 per cent of people in Haiti already live in poverty. With major buildings destroyed it is likely that less well-constructed homes will be even more seriously affected. This earthquake is grim news for the poor people of Haiti. We are calling for the generous support of the UK public to help us save lives.”

Oxfam is also using the audio blogging site ipadio to deliver radio-style reports from its correspondent Louis Belanger, who is en route to Haiti to help assess the damage caused by the earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale.