Disaster Accountability Hotline

From CrisisCommons Wiki

The Disaster Accountability Hotline is used to receive calls from disaster works and survivors, reporting critical gaps in disaster relief services.

The faster problems are reported, the faster they will be addressed. Despite best efforts, as we all know, disaster response/relief efforts are not smooth and there are problems. Organizations fundraising for support may not be so open about difficulties/capacity issues and therefore it is important for individuals on the inside and survivors to have a place to go to report problems where they can be protected and the message gets out. Once out, it's more likely problems will get addressed.

Hotline reports are often brought directly to the agencies and organizations responsible for the problem being reported. The identities of callers are protected unless explicit permission is given to reveal identifying information.

On occasion, reports are brought to news reporters, decision makers, and others with influence-- and, sometimes, small campaigns or advocacy efforts attempt to bring attention to outstanding issues that are not resolved.

Hotline messages are not immediately publicized. To do so would jeopardize the integrity of the reporting system.

How it works:

• Toll-free calls arrive via email in the form of a WAV file • Google Voice calls/SMS arrive via email in the form of a standard Google Voice message.

• Currently a volunteer transcribes the message and adds it to a Google Spreadsheet where it is triaged.

Goal

We are looking to develop an automated transcription system for messages and a ticketing system that would allow our volunteers to more easily triage calls received.

A ticketing system would allow our volunteers to log-in, listen to calls, read transcriptions, rank by importance, group calls into subject areas, geographic areas, status (outstanding/resolved/confirmed/etc), OK/Not OK for public exposure, etc

Update - Ticket system Beta is complete and being further developed to fit the specific needs of DAP. Need- We are still in need of a Voice-Text partner to help with that translation. We are currently reaching out to such providers to partner.