We hope everyone is safe in the aftermath of Isaac. If you have any ideas to support the entrepreneurial community, please let us know.
As a New Orleans native and long time entrepreneur, I thought I'd weigh in on the storm and entrepreneurs in the area. The first thing that comes to mind, having survived Hurricane Katrina, is priorities. Our family and loved ones are first that come to mind in a situation like a hurricane. No one is thinking about their business until that basic need to secure for their loved ones or just know that they are secure is established first. We need to care for individuals so that they can then and only then care for their businesses.
This requires something we usually take for granted, communication. In the old days, hurricane Betsy, for example, there were no cell phones. The power went out and so did the phones. Fortunately today, we have cell phones. If the towers survive and power to them remains, and it appears it did during Issac, then communication can be established. This could lead to lives saved, anxiety relieved and the prospect of a return to a focus on saving our businesses.
The only issue here was that cell phone batteries have a limited life. I resisted calling my daughter in NOLA so that she could save her battery until it was needed in the event of an emergency. With this in mind, I replied to IdeaVillage:
A good example of what can be done was noted in Connecticut after the freak ice storm last October cast the entire state into darkness for a over a week. The local high school not only established shelter for residents, but allowed citizens access to a large number of electrical outlets for the express purpose of recharging cell phones. It would be great to see areas under threat like NOLA to establish recharge stations anywhere there's a government response team. By charging more phones, there's more communication, bettre knowledge and response time. It places part fo the response effort in to the hands of the general public. And as the internet has demonstrated, there's power in this connectivity.
I was also impressed with how my wife and I safe in CT were able to keep track of our family in New Orleans through Facebook posts. We could see how bad things were or weren't, to our relief. The casual social tool demonstrated it had a real potential to deliver vital information on top of cute kitten photos.
Thanks to IdeaVillage for taking the lead. Can't wait to see what others suggest.
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