An animated video, Communication is Aid, makes the case that in crises, knowing what’s happening, where to go for assistance and who to call for help is crucial to survival and recovery. The video points out that during a natural or manmade disasters, information itself is as crucial to people’s survival as other types of more traditional aid. It also describes the positive impact of two-way communication in a crisis.

The video was produced by Infosaid, a collaboration of Internews and the BBC World Service Trust.

How communities are affected by crises is something Knight Foundation is involved with deeply. Earlier this year, the foundation released the report, Lessons from Haiti: Media, Information System and Communities, taking a critical look at the role of communications in crises and making recommendations for the future. Specifically, it found that in Haiti, for the first time, relief workers used SMS to broadcast messages in a crisis and used crowdsourced information to do their work,

After the report’s release, the foundation blogged about the various new media and humanitarian relief lessons in the report, noting several lessons and innovations that occurred after the earthquake in Haiti and how this information could inform the responses to future crises:

“Disasters will continue to occur. But, their damage can be mitigated by relief efforts that are well-planned and executed in concert with the local population. Digital media technologies offer a unique opportunity to advance these goals with the right on-the-ground coordination.”

The report was released by Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities, with support from Internews and funding from Knight. The full report and its specific recommendations are available here.