With all the fire and flooding disasters going on presently, I thought I would pull up some practical resources for people to use.  See this handbook created by residents of Joplin, MO with help from their state university:  The Use of Social Media for Disaster Recovery. Note that the same two ladies who were the creative force in Joplin have created a Facebook page for the Colorado Wildfires.

Additional resources are on Kim Stephen’s blog: idisaster.wordpress.com
Be sure to check out the Resources page.
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Information:

From the Denver Post, resources and assistance available to evacuees.

Website for the CO Voluntary Agencies Active in Disasters.

From USA Today, some interesting facts about why the risk is so high in Colorado and other western states:

Throughout the West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.

The nation is experiencing “a super-heated spike on top of a decades-long warming trend,” said Derek Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the National Climatic Data Center.

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I keep wondering how you shelter 32,000 people who have evacuated rapidly from an unexpected disaster event. If anyone has details, please let me know.