The 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit central Mexico on September 19, now referred in the country as the 19s, has shaken awake many parts of the country—among them, civil society. Only a few hours after the natural disaster struck—amid the panic, uncertainty, and fear—a citizen-led initiative got to work organizing and corroborating information to help strengthen the humanitarian response.

It all started with a WhatsApp group chat between friends looking for ways to help those affected by the quake,” according to Sandra Patargo, who was involved in the effort from the very beginning.

So the members of the chat group—who, in addition to being committed citizens, were also activists, journalists, and programmers—decided to step forward. All of them were based in different areas of Mexico City, including some of the most affected neighborhoods. They began to organize online—some of them from their homes, while others managed to gather together in safe places. Some of them focused on creating a digital map that showed affected areas, buildings at risk of collapse, shelters, and relief collection centers. Others worked to fill a database with detailed information on the needs and risks at each location, gathering information from social media. This led to the creation of the hashtag #Verificado19s, a reference to verified information related to the September 19earthquake. The hashtag immediately took off across social media, generating a large amount of data for the group to build on. As a result, the group put out a call for more tech-savvy volunteers who could assemble a tool to concentrate, organize, and share accurate information.

Read the full article by Sophia Hernandez about the Mexico earthquake from the Ford Foundation