If you’ve logged on to Google Earth (earth.google.com) and looked up your house, you know the program is surprisingly accurate, with individual cars and buildings made visible. And hey, that dot on the sidewalk could be you walking to school.
With the ability to zoom in on one’s own house and view photos of college campuses, Google Earth may be a source of amusement and interest, but this program also serves a greater purpose.
Many nonprofit organizations now use Google Earth to quickly locate refugee camps and provide aid. In dire emergencies, lack of communication and panic can make it almost impossible to find those in greatest need, so Google Earth is a huge advantage for aid workers. In fact, after Hurricane Katrina, some used this technological tool for rescue operations, according to Frank Jordans’s April 2008 Associated Press report. Google Earth now offers its $400 enhanced program to humanitarian groups for free; the regular Google Earth program is free for everyone.
As if rescuing refugees wasn’t enough, Google Earth also helps groups like UNICEF, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the UN Refugee Agency change the way the world views humanitarian crises across the globe. A visit to a refugee camp on Google Earth, for example, places the viewer amidst the haunting realities of violence and poverty. Such up-close coverage closes the distance between well-off lives and genocides, conflicts, and other human rights issues igniting the world.
Without knowledge of these critical stories and a common commitment to action, the rampant fires of bloodbaths today will continue to burn. Just take a look at Rwanda, 1994, when the world had the opportunity to rescue so many innocents.
As one American TV reporter said in Hotel Rwanda—according to the “This Week” list of quotes in ABC News—“If people see this footage they’ll say, ‘Oh my god, that's horrible,’ and go on eating their dinners.”
In 1994, concern did not translate into action, and one million people died in a span of just 100 days, according to Explore Faith’s Hotel Rwanda web site coverage. Although some did respond and save countless lives in the process, their efforts alone could not save those other one million people—deaths that could have been prevented if the entire world had rallied behind justice in Rwanda.
But thanks to today’s technology, donating to the suffering—and collectively extinguishing the flames of war, genocide, and poverty—is easy on the Internet. Take a few seconds to input a credit card number and click a mouse; it’s this simplicity that enables more and more people to donate. More recently, Google Earth has demonstrated the potential of bringing to light some of the unnoticed tragedies that don't always reach the TV screen.
But is technology enough to change apathetic attitudes? Like Rwanda in 1994 and slavery prior to the Civil War, the world may look back on the deaths in places like Darfur, Uganda, and Colombia, and wonder why its ancestors did nothing to diffuse these tragedies.
U2’s Bono spoke eloquently about the current generation at the 2006 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., a transcript of which appeared on USAToday.com. “I truly believe that when the history books are written,” Bono said, “our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did—or did not to—to put the fire out in Africa.”
To view the refugee camps, download Google Earth (earth.google.com) and then download the UNHCR layer at http://www.unhcr.org/events/47f48dc92.html. Also check out the “World is Witness,” “Crisis in Darfur,” and “Mapping the Holocaust” Google Earth layers at http://www.ushmm.org/maps.
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