Getting up-to-date information is imperative to surviving a natural or man-made disaster and social media may be a great source, but only if it's reliable enough to bet your life on.
Disaana, a Web-based real-time information service launched Wednesday on an experimental basis by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, may help provide quick and reliable disaster-related information while alerting users to potentially unsubstantiated rumors and fake tips.
By analyzing tweets and their geolocation data, the service creates a way for users to know what is really happening inside a disaster zone by viewing on-the-ground reactions of those affected, in real time.