Port au Prince, Haiti, 20 January 2010 - The Thomson Reuters Foundation has successfully launched its Emergency Information Service (EIS) to assist the disaster-struck population of Haiti and has already received more than 2700 messages. The new service, launched Sunday, allows survivors of the earthquake to receive critical information via a variety of communications channels, including SMS message directly to their phones, free of charge. Individuals can also send feedback via the same system that will reach the aid organisations working in Haiti.

To register, survivors subscribing to the Digicel and Comcel networks, the largest in Haiti , simply text their location to the SMS shortcode 4636. In return, up-to-date, reliable, actionable information will be sent to them wherever they are in Haiti , helping them to reach shelter, aid and loved ones. People outside of Haiti and the quake zone can register their loved ones' cell phone numbers on their behalf. The service is entirely free.

How the EIS technology works
The EIS is a free tool to send information by SMS to subscribers and to local media and serves also as an information gathering mechanism, whereby subscribers can report information directly into the EIS team. The team then collates and verifies this information and makes it available to aid agencies, NGOs and other groups working on the ground. In addition the information is also being fed into the Red Cross and Google's missing person's databases.

Since setting up In Haiti on Sunday 17 January, the EIS has received more than a thousand subscriptions from Haitians and has steadily sent SMS messages relaying vital information such as directing rescue teams to a group trapped in a building who had contact the EIS, which hospitals are admitting patients and which bridges remain safe to use.

The EIS is working with two key partners.

The open-source information system which allows mass SMS messaging has been developed for the Thomson Reuters Foundation by California-based technology NGO, InSTEDD. The EIS is also working with Ushaidi, the crowd-sourcing NGO whose volunteers around the world are translating and geo-tagging every incoming SMS. The incoming SMS to the EIS tool are usually in French or Creole and necessitate translation into English for international NGOs and rescue teams. They also remain in French or Creole in the tool. Users can request further information and future updates in English, French or Creole. See the EIS tool on http://eis.trust.org

The Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, Monique Villa, said, “In a situation as desperate as that in Haiti , information itself is a form of aid. From which hospitals remain open to where food and water can be found, getting the right information to people as quickly as possible can save lives. Our team are working in the harshest of conditions but, in cooperation with many other organisations, are managing to assist thousands of Haitians and guide relief organisations to where their help is most needed. Our technology is entirely open source and I would strongly encourage all NGOs working on this disaster to subscribe.”

Contacts

HOW TO REGISTER FOR THE SERVICE:

• If inside Haiti : text your location to 4636 directly from your own phone
  
  
• If inside Haiti and registering someone else's phone number: send a text with REGISTER or REGISTRE and the loved ones' number and location, to 4636
  
  
• If overseas: text REGISTER or REGISTRE and the loved ones' local Haiti number, and location to +4673 749 4535

Note: The SMS shortcode is dependent on local telecom infrastructure; if the infrastructure fails, the local SMS service will not work

About The EIS

The Emergency Information Service is a first service of its kind, launched by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in December 2009. The EIS will be deployed when major natural disasters strikes communities around the world, leaving them with no reliable communication infrastructure. EIS Action-Units will be deployed within hours of a disaster and upon arrival in the disaster zone will seek out, collate and disseminate life-saving information to disaster-hit populations. Key to the EIS if the use of local language for the affected population.

Thomson Reuters Foundation has developed groundbreaking technology to allow the EIS team and other groups to assimilate and process multiple information streams in an emergency. The tools let the EIS Action-Units generate information services for dissemination in local languages via SMS, email and web page. When all communications are down, the EIS will turn to low-tech means such as leaflets, community notice boards and even megaphones. The Thomson Reuters Foundation joined by the Red Cross to act as a key delivery partner in disaster zones.

About the Thomson Reuters Foundation

Established in 1982, Thomson Reuters Foundation is a registered charity in Britain and the United States . The charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, it leverages the skills and expertise across the corporation to increase trust and access to the rule of law, to save lives through the provision of trusted information and to improve standards of journalism.

Following the acquisition of Reuters by Thomson Corp in 2008, the Foundation's resources and programmes were expanded and a new leadership team was appointed. The Thomson Reuters Foundation website, trust.org, is a portal which integrates the Foundation's three key areas of focus and brings together the Foundation's community of partners.