BLOG #10: Chile Earthquake

     There are several events each year in the world that gain immediate worldwide attention.  Most of those events are covered by the mainstream news.  Social media and internet activism take a large role in covering the who, what, where, when, and how of the events.  Activists soon come out to show their support or declare their opposition to the events either during or after the events.  I would like to discuss the Chile earthquake that hit on February 27, 2010.  Many mainstream news media were either on the spot or reported on the earthquake and the state of the country from here in the United States seconds after the tragedy.  You could find Youtube videos, CNN around-the-clock news, updated videos and other media in newsgroups and communities all over the web that covered the latest in Chile days after the quake.
     The numerous web sites and television stations all around the world took over with news of the quake just seconds after it happened.  Youtube videos that showed the devastation appeared within a few minutes, thanks to cellphones belonging to Haitians that sent the media.  NBC, ABC, and CBS had their stations and web sites cluttered with updated news about the 8.8 quake.  The BBC had continuing coverage for many days after the earthquake, both online and on BBC television.  You could not flip channels on TV (even if you have cable television) without having seen pictures and video of devastated Chile.  I heard at least 4 radio stations discussing the tragedy.  Social media giants such as yahoo, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter were overwhelmed and flooded with news of the quake.  They helped convey the desperate needs of the Chileans such as they had done earlier in Haiti.  People around the world could see the devastation with their own eyes.  Yet we could not readily be physically there to help them.  Activists showed their hundreds of faces by setting up donation and support sites for those victims and out-of-Chile families and friends of the Chilean victims.  This is exactly what I had discussed with the 9/11 WTC attack in my last post.  The Internet enabled the world to give immediate monetary and spiritual help to the Chilean people.  The world became activists in the plight of one of our world's countries and to people just like us.  Without the Internet, many more Chileans would have certainly died before anyone landed in Chile to help. 
     There was, of course, opposition to the aid to Chile.  Their own President, Michelle Bachelet, opposed aid to her country for several hours, claiming that they were not hurt bad and didn't need international aid.  Yet, the activists used media and technology of many sorts to help the country, despite Bachelet's call for no aid.  This is similar to Iran's government saying there was no problem but their people knew there was trouble.
      An argument can be made that some world events that create Internet activism get more attention from the activists than other similar events.  For example, the earthquake in Haiti received far more aid and attention than did the Chile quake.  This, in part, is due to Chile's more advanced recovery systems put into place and less need for financial help from people on the Internet.  However, as listed in many blogs and communities in Chile, they have felt cheated by those that gave tremendous aid and support to Haiti.  This shows that Internet-enabled activism can have it's pitfalls.  People tend to focus more on certain events and less on those of the same nature that happens shortly thereafter.
     No matter what event happens in the world, people will always have their views on whether to get involved or not.  If they do get involved, they have plenty of media and technology to use to voice their opinions on the matter at hand.  With the advent of the Internet, people from all across the globe can get involved in any matter and help make a difference in that matter.