Released June 13, 2011
COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Extension has created a community page on Facebook for organizations and individuals to share information related to flooding along the Missouri River: http://www.facebook.com/MoFloodInfo.
The community page provides regularly updated information such as requests for volunteers; status reports on levees, road closings and river levels; evacuation announcements; and educational resources.
As a Facebook community, Missouri Flood Info is not “owned” by any one organization. All agencies and organizations involved in flood preparedness, mitigation and recovery are invited to participate by making posts to the page.
Collaborators include the United Way of Greater St. Joseph, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Kansas City District, the Missouri National Guard, Atchison County (Mo.) 911/Emergency Management and Holt County, Mo.
“Social media is an effective communications tool during a disaster. This was demonstrated in Joplin and has been successfully used during other flood events,” said Eileen Yager, editor, MU Extension Web Team.
About 500 people and organizations are currently following the Missouri Flood Info community page, which launched June 6.
Facebook users are welcome to contribute posts or comments. Agencies can join as page administrators by contacting Eileen Yager, MU Extension Web Team, at 573-882-0604 or YagerE@missouri.edu.
On the Web:
-http://www.facebook.com/MoFloodInfo
-http://extension.missouri.edu/flood
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University of Missouri, http://extension.missouri.edu/news/DisplayStory.aspx?N=1141
Sources: Mary Simon Leuci, 573-882-2937
Beverly Maltsberger, 816-279-1691
Writer: Curt Wohleber, 573-882-5409, WohleberC@missouri.edu
