Angelo Embuldeniya

Ange Embuldeniya is an information systems analyst and relief communications activist based in South West Asia. With roots from Sri Lanka and a Dutch mix thrown in, Ange was born in Bahrain.

Being involved with various non profit initiatives and open source projects, I have been able to spend quality time as a disaster relief, emergency and crisis response volunteer.

It all started when the tsunami hit the South-East Asian region in December 2004 where I used IT (Information Technology) as a tool alongside my background in IP (Intellectual Property) Conflict-Resolution Studies, to apply many skills needed in helping out during the crises. Ange handled relief supply requirements and offers of assistance during the immediate days after the disaster by setting up a database management system within a web-driven interface for all active aid organizations operating in tsunami-affected zones in order to coordinate volunteers’ skills with NGOs’ (Non Governmental Organizations) needs at national level, going beyond to develop and implement mini-communication centers at affected areas while connecting them via shared online gateways to international donor agencies.

Between Decemeber 2004 and July 2005, Ange volunteered as an Information Systems Specialist with the UN HIC, Rotary International and VolunteerSriLanka and was tasked with developing post-tsunami IT infrastructure while promoting and integrating transparency into exisiting and proposed systems for relief operations. Also a SEA-EAT (South East Asian Earthquake And Tsunami) Wiki & Blog team member (tsunamihelp.blogspot.com / tsunamihelp.info), Ange was responsible for blogging and updating information pertaining to relief efforts.

In August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the SEA-EAT team were on the relief aid scene virtually within 10 hours of the disaster and formed the KatrinaHelp Wiki & Network team (katrinahelp.info / katrinahelp.blogspot.com) which was based in 3 continents (North America, Asia and Europe) where Ange took on the task of relief communications for connecting missing people and victims with their loved ones. Using VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) as their main communications tool that linked up with traditional telecom networks, 50 hours into the disaster, the KatrinaHelp team had set up the first disaster relief communications network into New Orleans and other affected areas through communication hubs located worldwide and real-time communication with those on the ground was established.

Ange also blogs at World Wide Help (blog.worldwidehelp.info), being one of the co-founders, World Wide Help Group, comprises of the same disaster relief outreach volunteer group who were behind the SEA-EAT Blog (tsunamihelp.info).

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Latest posts by Angelo Embuldeniya

Pakistan: Media, Reactions and the Emergency

  5 November 2007

A guide to understanding the state of emergency in Pakistan, has now been posted courtesy of The Emergency Times, which gives us another interesting perspective: Well, for starters, the entire constitution has been put in abeyance (read suspended). This is more synonymous to a martial law, which is not provided...

Indonesia: Java Quake Help Wiki Needs Online Volunteers

  31 May 2006

In response to the Java Quake of 27th May, 2006, the World Wide Help Group have set up the Java Quake Help Wiki and since it was set up, in the past 24 hours they are coordinating disaster relief operations with major aid agencies and relief teams on the ground....

Extensive Flooding in Suriname

  9 May 2006

HEAVY FLOODING has affected more than 157 villages in Suriname over the past 48 hours and 15,000 people have been displaced already. “Operation Falawatra” (Operation “Low Tide”), the government's aid operation currently being carried out by the national army and police, has been hampered because of continued torrential rainfall, and...

11 Quakes Hit Southern Iran

Early Saturday morning (at approximately 07 GMT), an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8, struck in Southern Iran, as measured by the USGS. With the given depth of 44 km there were no fatalities expected, but it was said that a few people could have been injured. At the time...