FORGET about dialling 999 or 911: when the next earthquake or flu pandemic strikes you might find yourself logging on to the internet instead.
Emergency call centres quickly become overwhelmed during large-scale disasters, so Ben Shneiderman and Jennifer Preece at the University of Maryland, College Park, say a specially designed social-networking site could be a big help. Users could report problems via mobile phone or PCs, find out who needs help, and get information on where and when to evacuate (Science, vol 315, p 944).
Shneiderman admits it will be a challenge to shield the site from prank attacks…
