Technology and natural disasters: Surviving the floods in Chennai

Exactly one month ago, I came face to face with the fury of El Niño in Chennai, a sprawling city in India of more than 7 million people. The storms and the floods of December 1 left 1.8 million people displaced from their homes and about 400 dead. I narrowly escaped the floods, thanks to my mobile device and the thoughtfulness of strangers. Now, I have a chance to reflect on how technology has made crowdsourced disaster relief possible, and what lessons healthcare can learn from this.