Examining the influence of the media on the level of aid following humanitarian crises.
At the Development Data Challenge in London, a group of developers, journalists, social entrepreneurs and international development experts set themselves the challenge of tracking the influence of media coverage on the amount of funding following natural disasters. We selected five major natural disasters from the last ten years; the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), the Haiti Earthquake (2010), the Pakistan Floods (2010) the Japan Earthquake (2011) and the East Africa Drought (2011). Using trusted databases and official reports from NGOs, we sourced the number of people affected by each disaster, as well as the amount of funds given by governments, private organisations, NGOs and the public. Finally, we connected to the YouTube API and used a filter to find television media coverage from reputable new organisations such as CNN, Al Jazeera and Reuters.
Relative media and aid funding per crisis.
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Haiti Earthquake
January 2010
On January 12th 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti at 16:53 local time. Heavily urbanised areas close to the epicentre at Léogâne, as well as pre-existing poverty and governance and health problems, resulted in extensive damage. In the aftermath of the quake, Haiti was plagued by more than 50 aftershocks, further complicating relief efforts.
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Pakistan Floods
July 2010
After heavy monsoon rains, Pakistan was hit by its worst floods for over 80 years, in July 2010. With a third of the country under water, much of the country’s roads and bridges were seriously damaged, leaving victims out of the reach of relief efforts. The submerged land included some of Pakistan’s most fertile areas meaning that agricultural crops and local jobs suffered even after the water subsided.
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Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami
March 2011
At 14:46 local time on March 11th 2011, the world’s fifth strongest earthquake shook Japan, followed by over 100 aftershocks. The earthquake created a devastating tsunami in the north-east of the country, sweeping over the Fukushima region and destroying everything in its path. Fukushima’s huge nuclear power plant was severely damaged by the earthquake resulting in a series of explosions, which posed a serious health risk to the region’s residents.
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East Africa Drought
July 2011
Severe drought in the Horn of Africa which began in July 2011 has resulted in food crises and ensuing health and migratory emergencies in several East African countries. Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia have been deeply affected as well as Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. UN defined famine (when there is a complete lack of food access and mass starvation, death and displacement) was declared in south Somalia in 2011.
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Indian Ocean Tsunami
December 2004
At 07:59 local time on December 26th 2004, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred under the Indian Ocean. The world’s largest for at least 40 years, the earthquake triggered an enormous tsunami reaching heights of 10 metres. The tsunami spread across the entire Indian Ocean, hitting several south Asian countries as well as the coastlines of Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. Indonesia, where the quake’s epicentre was located, was the country worst-hit by this disaster.
Built as part of Development Data Challenge London August 25th 2012
Sources..
Youtube channels used to gage media impact.
ABCNews, AlArabiya, AlJazeeraEnglish, AssociatedPress, BBCWorldwide, CBSNewsOnline, Channel4News, Euronews, FoxNewsChannel, HuffingtonPost, LeMonde, RussiaToday, TheGuardian, WSJDigitalNetwork, WashingtonPost, afp, aljazeerachannel, bbc, bloomberg, cbsnewsonline, channelnewsasia, cnn, elpaiscom, france24, itnnews, reutersvideo, russiatoday, skynews, spiegeltv, telegraphtv, thenewyorktimes
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