How Facebook's Disaster Maps is helping aid organizations serve people affected by Florence

The same technology that helps companies like Uber find their customers is now available to public safety agencies to ensure accurate location detection from cell phone calls. Denver is among the first cities to implement the updated technology and since the city launched it in mid-2018, it has delivered an accuracy percentage in the 90s, which means first responders don't waste precious time trying to find someone in crisis. The key is for cell phone users to have updated operating systems.

The city of Houston is changing its approach to measuring the full scope of damage from Hurricane Harvey so it can get help where it is most needed and improve future flood mitigation. Using data from numerous sources, Civis Analytics found unmet housing needs were far greater than initially recorded and low-income areas were hit disproportionately harder, even though recovery funding often goes to areas with higher housing values. Now city officials are working to implement solutions based on the data in order to allocate limited funds where they will be most effective.

The Zipline drone system helps deliver life-saving medical supplies, such as blood and antivenom, to areas in the country that are hard to reach due to issues with the terrain, infrastructure or extreme weather. Since launching, Zipline has made more than one million deliveries.

A community-based, early-warning system for flooding in Durban, South Africa, gave community members an early enough evacuation order so that no lives were lost. The system uses information from Weather Service reports to know when and where to monitor real-time local conditions. When a community member or member of the disaster management unit sees the conditions are becoming dangerous, they use messaging apps to warn the community.

The ShakeAlert system uses buried sensors to detect initial earthquake waves and warn residents of the West Coast of the United States to seek cover through cellphone apps.

Drones complement emergency health services in poorly connected regions. Across Rwanda, where the state of infrastructure poses an ongoing structural challenge, drones are making emergency deliveries of blood possible. By partnering with a Silicon Valley tech firm, the Rwandan government has supplemented its healthcare services. With drones involved in some 20 percent of blood deliveries, the work of the Zipline pharmacy raises further questions about the short term and long-term challenges facing Rwanda’s infrastructure.

In Costa Rica, a group of volunteer firefighters use donated equipment, gear, and their own cell phones to fill in a big gap in emergency services. More residents are now accustomed to calling them directly for fires and other emergencies, and the community supports them financially. The firefighters are trying to integrate their work into the country's emergency alert system and to build their own fire station.

Across the world, lack of a precise address has created issues for communities, whether it be in terms of medical treatment, resource drop off, or even simple package deliver. Attempting to address this problem, this piece looks at What3words, a company that will generate a precise address for any location.

As temperatures continue to steadily and consistently rise because of climate change, the warming ocean has become an increasing threat to the livelihoods of those living near any shore. From Hurricane-force winds to rising sea levels that threaten floods, the potential for future storm surges is only becoming more apparent. In an effort to mitigate and potentially minimize loss, scientists from around the world are "fingerprinting" sea level rise by the use of satellites in an attempt to predict which coastal areas are most at risk from these impending storms.

The Access to Critical Cerebral Support Services (ACCESS) program in New Mexico allows Albuquerque specialists to video call into rural hospitals to give advice and direction in the case of stroke victims. The program saves smaller communities from having to fly patients who are having a stroke to larger cities, which often takes up critical time in which a patient needs to be treated.