Volunteers take to social media to aid the Nepal relief effort.

Volunteers take to social media to aid the Nepal relief effort. Image by Acid Pix / CC BY 2.0

The global response to the earthquake that hit the area around Kathmandu on 25 April has extended into cyberspace, with hundreds of volunteers using social media to collate information on the missing and dead, and share information on the emergency supplies needed by survivors. With the death toll now over 7000, the focus has shifted from search and rescue to logistics and creating supply lines to help those left homeless and destitute by the disaster, and social media users are exploited a wide range of social media tools, from Twitter and Facebook to satellite maps and Google Docs to support the relief effort on the ground. Read more: npr.org