KSG prof starts earthquake relief Web site

Assistant Professor of Public Policy Asim Khwaja, with collaborators Jishnu Das and Tara Vishwanath from the World Bank and Tahir Andrabi from Pomona College, has rushed to create a Web site that can help coordinate relief efforts for the Pakistan earthquake. The site, complete with a list of affected villages and satellite maps, aims to ensure that places off of main roads and in other less accessible locations aren’t forgotten.

The site, http://www.risepak.com, gathers information from census data, maps, satellite photographs, and other sources together with real-time postings from relief workers, government agencies, and individuals visiting the affected areas. It was created with the help of the World Bank, WOL (Pakistan’s largest Internet service provider), and dozens of volunteers in Pakistan.

The site aims to provide information on the level of destruction at a particular location, the condition of surrounding roads, and the amount of aid provided so far so that efforts can be focused on areas that have not received relief.

“People [relief workers] go to the most accessible areas. They may not realize that right behind the mountaintop there’s another 60 homes,” Khwaja said. “Our motto is ‘no village left behind.’”