Within moments of devastating earthquake which has nearly ruined Haiti completely and killed thousands, viral campaign had spread out through mobile texting and Twitter. Donations started pouring in within hours and before relief operations could be chalked out on ground, relief workers could reach Haiti nearly $75,000 dollars were raised by renowned Haitian origin musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation while The American Red Cross managed to raise whooping $4 million. Both organizations and many other aid organizations are still counting the donations that are pouring in generously from all over the world.
Mobile text message coupled with Twitter campaign seem to be most effective way to spread the word and to even raise funds quickly. Tweets to send text messages on cell phones for donations were sent out within moments of disaster and all that one had to do was send an SMS on cell phone and pledge the amount. The donated money was added to the monthly cell phone bills of the users. So it was just increments of $5 and $10 dollars which added up to millions of dollars within hours.
On one side technology failed Haitians because there was no early warning and thousands perished in a flash but on the other side it will be modern technology which will save surviving Haitian population to rebuild their homes and lives through the funds raised.
