Submitted by Karla Block
Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
The recent flooding of the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota provided an opportunity for these states to use Go Local to respond to disaster-related information needs. Both Go Local North Dakota and My Health Minnesota → Go Local posted flood information as "featured sites" on their Go Local homepages.
Go Local is useful to people looking for health and social services at any time but especially during times of emergencies and natural disasters like this. In addition to the wealth of health services already included in the two Go Local sites, the flood information on their homepages included links to FEMA; the American Red Cross flood safety checklist; flood preparedness information from the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services; a social networking site from the region's newspaper to help people communicate during the flood; and flood information from ECHO (a site that provides emergency information in other languages).
Both Go Local sites were featured in the Cornflower, and included as a link on the University of North Dakota's flood page. The flood information highlighted on the two Go Local sites was noticed by staff at the National Library of Medicine.
A new, optional Emergency Response page will be one of the features in Go Local software enhancements being released in mid-May. The feature will allow Go Local sites to easily create and post ad hoc emergency pages that include key information and useful links in response to emergencies or disasters.