Abstract
This paper explores the idea of government emergency response and disaster management through the lens of popular social media services. One of the traditional challenges to effective emergency response and disaster management is communication between the government and its constituents. As a consequence of this lack of communication, organization of work can often be difficult or allocated in an inefficient and/or ineffective manner. After reviewing case studies in which the use of social media provided positive outcomes for all parties involved during periods of disaster or a state of emergency, we propose a new system designed to "empower the victims" -- that is -- to mobilize citizen volunteers in assisting the government. This frees up government resources to handle more serious problems and speeds the recovery process. This system takes the form of three major components: a volunteer database, an incident reporting system, and structured incentives to reward volunteers for their time and service. Communication is done via social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, and smartphones are used to perform a variety of tasks.