I cannot help noticing the similarities between what happened last December in South Asia, and what’s happening now in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. As someone who runs a tsunali relief site, I have to say that the response to that tragedy then was beyond magination. People were not simply generous, but it demonstrated the power of true networking.

I may be wrong, but the grass roots movements appear to be slow to get behind this enormous tragedy in our country. However, there are organizations that have responded, as true marketers and communicators should. Here are some:

Marketing Sherpa:http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=3068 This is a list of Marketing, PR, and Advertising organizations who have got things moving.

Jeremy Pepper has a post about what PR people can do.

One blog stands out for reporting the true situation from the ground.

I suppose it’s suddenly dawning upon everyone that gas price hikes across the country are just the tip of the iceberg. The ripple effect on many aspects of the economy will be huge, and we better get prepared to deal with it, no matter whatbusiness we are in. A snapshot of that, at a local level, can be found in this post on Dave Barry’s blog, where someone from Houston observes:

As a Houstonian, I am embarrassed to admit that on the radio, TV, and even here in the office, people’s comments have gone from "Oh, that’s terrible!" to "Wait a minute, they’re all coming here?!? 25,000?!? What about us?"

It’s not just neighboring cities and states that need to wake up to this reality. I just returned from a visit to Sri Lanka, where all the fund raising in the world (and the world was very generous) has not begun to solve the social problems that the tsunami has created. People are still living under plastic sheets… 

One last thought: Communications. We hear that communications is coming to the Astro Dome. If we were able to track this massive hurricane, why was it not possible to deploy temporary transmitters in advance of, or immediately following Katrina to the areas where flooding was predicted, knowing fully well that existing cell phone and other communications infrastructure would fail? I say this because I there are companies who send up balloons into disaster areas, and others that can provide mobile transmitters. Space Data Corp is one of them that comes to mind.

In Sri Lanka, a local private telecom company rushed in and installed temporary towers to stricken areas, even before the waters receded. Roads were inaccessible for days, but communication was up, fast.