Humanitarian & Disaster Technologist
Writing on technology, crisis response, and the future of humanitarian aid — drawn from 15 years working in the field.
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From the Field: How Hawaii Used DisasterAWARE to Coordinate Flood Response Across the Islands
6–9 minutes1,426 wordsRead more: From the Field: How Hawaii Used DisasterAWARE to Coordinate Flood Response Across the IslandsA field report on how Hawaii used Pacific Disaster Center’s DisasterAWARE ecosystem to coordinate multi-island flood response and hazard analysis.
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Pneumatic Tube Logistics: Rapid Medical Transport in Dense Urban Ruins
8–13 minutes1,983 wordsRead more: Pneumatic Tube Logistics: Rapid Medical Transport in Dense Urban RuinsIn a damaged city, the desire for a fast route between a treatment area, a blood bank, and a laboratory is understandable. Rubble, access controls, congested corridors, and exhausted staff can all slow the movement of a specimen or urgently needed product. But the useful lesson from pneumatic tubes is not that responders can unroll a magical transport network across ruins. It is that mature hospital tube systems are carefully engineered logistics infrastructure: fixed networks with controlled routes, compatible carriers, trained users, priority rules, maintenance, and a human backup when the system is unavailable. That distinction matters. Pneumatic tube systems…
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Community Flood Sensors: Designing Reliable Early Warning at the Last Mile
7–10 minutes1,589 wordsRead more: Community Flood Sensors: Designing Reliable Early Warning at the Last MileHow community flood sensors support reliable early warning through resilient measurement, communications, thresholds, and local action.
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LoRa and LoRaWAN for Decentralized Communication in Disaster Zones
11–17 minutes2,690 wordsRead more: LoRa and LoRaWAN for Decentralized Communication in Disaster ZonesHow LoRa and LoRaWAN can support low-power disaster communications, flood monitoring, field messaging, and resilient emergency networks.
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Everything-to-Grid Energy: Powering Resilience in a Disrupted World
10–15 minutes2,309 wordsRead more: Everything-to-Grid Energy: Powering Resilience in a Disrupted WorldEverything-to-Grid energy connects bidirectional EVs, distributed resources, flexible demand, and microgrids to improve resilience during power disruptions.
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Vertical Challenge: High-Precision Tactical Mapping for Urban Search and Rescue
9–14 minutes2,180 wordsRead more: Vertical Challenge: High-Precision Tactical Mapping for Urban Search and RescueHow 3D mapping, LiDAR, drones, and resilient data systems help search-and-rescue teams navigate complex disaster sites, including lessons from Nepal.
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Island Resilience: Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Vulnerable Nations
9–14 minutes2,156 wordsRead more: Island Resilience: Nature-Based Solutions for Climate-Vulnerable NationsNature-based solutions can strengthen island resilience when mangroves, reefs, wetlands, dunes, forests, and engineered infrastructure are planned as one adaptive system.