Twitter Helps Nakhon Ratchasima Doctor To Mobilize Flood Relief Supplies

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Twitter makes wishes come true

By Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

Nakhon Ratchasima - In a bid to mobilize relief supplies to help flood victims and medical workers who stuck in Maharat Nakhon ratchasima Hospital which had beenhit hard by massive flood in recent day, Dr Nattakul Yamprasert, anorthopaedist at Maharat, had used smart phone to access his twitteraccount @capitellum and sent the pictures of hospital after the flood his on Sunday which help authority to estimate damages and male planto help victims.

Orthopaedist Dr Nattakul Yamprasert managed to mobilise relief supplies for patients and medical workers stranded at the Maharat Hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima by tweeting about their plight through his Twitter account @capitellum.

"I posted the photographs on Twitter, under the tag #Thaiflood, because I wanted to show people what we were dealing with," he said.

Since the flash floods hit the hospital on Sunday afternoon, he said, all patients on the first floor had to be moved to the second floor. The level of water rose to an unprecedented height at night.

"When Twitter users, especially those who have lots of followers, saw pictures of the hospital, they started spreading the word by re-tweeting it over and over again.

"News about us spread in mere minutes," the doctor said.

Nattakul initially sent messages asking for relief supplies, especially drinking water, food and flashlights, because water and electricity supply has been cut off.

The tweeting worked. Massive amounts of food and relief supplies were delivered to the hospital, but there was another problem - they had no plates or cutlery to eat the food with.

"So I started tweeting about us needing dishes and spoons to eat with, and after that hundreds of plastic dishes arrived," he said.

Nattakul did not just use Twitter to report on his hospital, but also asked people to pay attention to the neighbouring Nakhon Ratchasima Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital and St Mary's Hospital, which were also severely affected.

"I have been using Twitter to share and tell people how other places also need assistance," he said.

-- The Nation 2010-10-22