Twitter sleuths and disaster mappers look for a backup plan

People ride on a pickup car through the water during floods in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Nov 17, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. — Antara Foto/Makna Zaezar/via Reuters

BANGKOK/LOS ANGELES: Days before the monsoon swept into Indonesia this year, 25 million people from across the country uploaded geotagged selfies on Twitter – their way of reporting for duty in a project to build a crowdsourced map of the impending floods.

The initiative by Indonesia’s Yayasan Peta Bencana – or Disaster Map Foundation – highlights Twitter’s role in disaster response around the world, from helping Indians access Covid-19 vaccines to sharing warnings about mass shootings in the United States.