VOA标准英语2011--Crisis Mapping Helps with Disaster Relie
时间：2018-12-16 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2011年(七月)
Crisis Mapping Helps with Disaster Relief
After devastating 1 natural disasters, mobile phone networks, satellites and other computer software are often used to help to pinpoint 2 where help is needed the most. They are crucial for the creation of crisis maps.
The power of the mobile phone and other social media became clear in the aftermath of the tsunami 3 and earthquake in Japan. Just hours after disaster struck, Japanese volunteers used social media information to create a crisis map. The map indicated hazardous 4 areas and emergency services. Hundreds of people each day posted updates to the map on the Internet, including information from radio stations.
Crisis maps also helped with relief efforts in Haiti. Thousands of text messages provided information to international aid organizations about shelter, food supplies and sanitation 5. A mapping team helped pinpoint search and rescue requests for people trapped in the rubble 6.
Sheldon Himelfarb is the director of peacebuilding at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. "The word went out that if you texted a certain short code number with your call for help, it would be captured, mapped and it would enable responders to help... We saw very quickly how the emergency responders of all sorts, from the Red Cross to the military to the NGOs started to rely on this map," Himelfarb said.
Crisis mapping is also being used to keep track of events in Libya. Himelfarb says a map is helping 7 the United Nations to follow a wide range of activities, including relief efforts and attacks by government and rebel forces.
"To show where the incidents of attacks are occurring, different kinds of attacks, different levels of violence...The crisis mappers are collecting vast amounts of information from social media, from YouTube, from Twitter, Facebook, and uploading it onto this map that the U.N. is saying is invaluable 8 to them," Himelfarb said.
Himelfarb says crisis maps can be helpful in targeting people in need, but he is concerned the information can be wrong.
"You get all this information from the public, from online sources. How do you validate 9 it? How do you know it's accurate? That's a real problem," he said.
He also says during a war, both sides could use some information to target their enemies and aid organizations.
- It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
- Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。
- It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
- I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。
- Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
- Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。
- These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
- Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。
- The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
- Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。
- After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
- After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。
- The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
- By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
- A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
- This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。