Daily Real Estate News  |  September 2, 2005  |   Internet Serves as Communication Link During Disaster With phone lines destroyed in many areas of the Gulf Coast, and spotty cell phone service at best, REALTORS® affected by Hurricane Katrina are relying heavily on online communications to reach out to friends, family, and colleagues. Online discussion groups, message boards, blogs, listservs, and e-mail are on the front line of communication in the aftermath of the hurricane. “I think it’s indicative that the Internet has entered our lives as a full-fledged medium right alongside voice, print, and broadcast,” says Mark Lesswing, vice president of the Center for REALTOR® Technology at the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Lesswing returned Thursday from a personal trip in Memphis, Tenn., not far from the Gulf Coast, and has posted his personal observations of the disaster on the CRT Blog, including the story of meeting a man on a rental-car bus who had lost everything in the hurricane. “In the middle of a disaster it’s not surprising that this full medium is our main mode of communication right now,” Lesswing says. “This wouldn’t have happened even five or six years ago. If the medium wasn't critical in our lives, it would be the one dropped first in a disaster.” NAR has launched a Hurricane Katrina Discussion Board at REALTOR.org for people to communicate and coordinate assistance efforts (a REALTOR® log-in is required). R. Scott Brunner, CEO of the Virginia Association of REALTORS®, has been monitoring similar discussion boards and using e-mail to learn and share for news about family and friends who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Brunner led the Mississippi Association of REALTORS® for 11 years before moving to VAR last month. “Out of a feeling of helplessness, I’ve become the conduit of communication,” Brunner says. “I’m hearing via e-mail that … the immediate need is for gas and generators and plywood to board up the damages to homes.” Brunner has been using every online vehicle at his disposal—e-mail messages, listservs like InternetCrusade's AETalk, and blogs. In one e-mail dispatch on AETalk, Brunner writes: Angela Cain, the Mississippi CEO, is without power, and can only receive calls. No outgoing calls on her cell for some reason. The phones at the Mississippi Assn are still down. I'm talking with Angela 4 and 5 times a day to relay info and find out what they need. She's in communication with Cheryl Bullock, the Jackson Assn CEO, who is well, too, I'm told, though her home is without water AND power. Jackson is still a wreck, though not on the scale of the Coast devastation. Schools are out, trees and phone lines down, there's no gasoline to be had, cell coverage is spotty at best, and 70% of that town is still without electricity. Luckily, there also has been some good news to share. Brunner says that he was relieved to learn through an e-mail that a past president of the Mississippi Association of REALTORS® who lives along the Gulf Coast managed to get to safety and is doing OK. Here is a list of active online destinations for REALTORS® and friends to share information about Hurricane Katrina:

InternetCrusade, a REALTOR VIP® Program Partner, operates a blog for REALTORS®.

Nola.com, the affiliated Web site of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, offers discussion forums and chat rooms to share information about missing persons or to let people know that you’re OK, temporary housing that is available to displaced people, and how you can help.

Run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, www.swern.gov offers a database for real estate practitioners to enter available housing they have for hurricane victims.

Craigslist.org operates a resources page for Hurricane Katrina survivors that find missing friends or relatives and find information about temporary shelter.

The Louisiana Association of REALTORS® links members to a blog hosted by WWL-TV, the local CBS affiliate station, which provides news updates on the hurricane aftermath every few minutes. —By Haley M. Hwang for REALTOR® Magazine Online