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The National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) and Facebook Sign Memorandum of Understanding to assist in communication and coordination.ARLINGTON, VA, May 16, 2012 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) -- The National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) (http://www.nvoad.org) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) announced today that the two have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to assist in communication and coordination during times of disaster. National VOAD will be collaborating with Facebook on the continued development of their "Disaster Relief Page". This page will serve as a collaborative resource for individuals, non-profits, government, and industry to raise awareness of those in need around the world, to play a pivotal role in disaster preparedness and relief, and to better share information around volunteer opportunities. "We are excited to announce this partnership with National VOAD to help crowd source volunteers and better share information around volunteer opportunities, both before and after a disaster strikes," says Joel Kaplan, Vice President (US Public Policy) with Facebook. "We believe that the addition of National VOAD to our emerging disaster relief program will help those that use our service to more effectively identify organizations to support when others are the most in need." The 2009 Haiti earthquake, and the response in the days and weeks after, underscored the Internets critical role in connecting the world's population in times of tragedy. In response, Facebook launched the Disaster Relief page, where millions of people could educate themselves and learn how to help. With this partnership, the resources of our nationwide membership will support the Disaster Relief on Facebook initiative to power sharing with friends to help individuals and communities prepare for disasters, and improve the relief and recovery of communities affected by disasters" says Daniel Stoecker, Executive Director of National VOAD. "We are also looking forward to serving on the Facebook Disaster Relief and Recovery Advisory Board and participating in Facebook's Hackathon for Disaster Relief." National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster is a leader and voice for the non-profit organizations and volunteers that work in all phases of disaster--preparedness, response, relief, recovery, and mitigation. Members of National VOAD form a coalition of nonprofit organizations that respond to disasters as part of their overall mission Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9511429.htm PRWeb.com |