02-20-2012 by The Daily Aztec

X24 Mexico simulates disaster Hutton Marshall

MONDAY February 20, 2012 Volume 97, Issue 76 W W W.T H E D A I LYA Z T E C . C O M

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INDEX: Last week, leaders from Mexico and the United States gathered at San Diego State’s immersive Visualization Center for the third annual Exercise 24, a disaster simulation that utilizes Twitter and other social media platforms to connect disaster control to necessary resources in a time of crisis. Last year’s X24 exercise simulated an offshore earthquake resulting in a tsunami striking San Diego. This year’s exercise created a scenario involving multiple disasters in Mexico, the most significant of which was an active volcano erupting near Mexico City. Once the disaster simulation began, participants interacted with one another through several communication media to find the most effective way to control the situation. The tools in SDSU’s Visualization Center ensured interconnectedness among the participants of X24 Mexico. “As soon as something happens, you’re all connected to each other,” director of SDSU Visualization Center, Eric Frost, said. “You can create a shared vision to cohesively respond to a disaster. Everyone knows the role they have to play.” According to Frost, making these connections prior to a real disaster is imperative in order to solve real-time problems in an effective manner. “If you’re exchanging business cards when the disaster happens, you’ve already lost. It’s already way too late,” Frost said. Director of X24 Mexico, George Bressler claims the simulation is beneficial not only in a communicationbuilding sense; much of the computerized simulation can also be applied scientifically to actual disasters. “During X24 San Diego, we explored a situation involving a tsunami in Southern California, which we then applied to the situation in Japan,” Bressler said.

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“If something happens now, people will be connected to it. Twitter will make sure regular people are aware and involved in what’s happening.” Eric Frost director of SDSU Visualization Center However, Japan could have benefited even further from an X24 involving communication between it and the United States. “The single hardest part of the Japanese tsunami was Americans getting a travel voucher,” Frost said. “Nobody knew who to talk to, so it took two weeks to get people over there. Most people needing to be saved will be dead by then.” The X24 simulations are designed to overcome these problems before

any casualties occur. Despite working in a room filled with cutting-edge technology and software, Frost claimed Twitter has now become an invaluable resource for disaster control. The real-time, microblogging site is now in its fifth year of existence and is continually evolving. “If you want to accomplish something during a disaster, Twitter works in a dramatically effective way because it’s one-to-many,” he said. Overcoming the language barrier

Student union greets incomers Edward Henderson staff writer Last Saturday, the Afrikan Student Union at San Diego State hosted its 37th Annual High School Conference. The theme of the conference was “Education is the passport to our future.” More than 150 students from San Diego and Los Angeles-area high schools participated in the all-day event, which kicked off in the Aztec Recreation Center. The purpose of the event was to provide underrepresented and underprivileged students with information about the college admission process and an opportunity to interact with current SDSU students. ASU President Channelle McNutt said this interaction is important when trying to connect with high school students. “There’s a huge difference between hearing this information from a counselor or a teacher that’s a lot older than you are, verses college students who have just made the transition themselves or already have a few years of experience

under their belt,” McNutt said. The day began with presentations from the Office of Educational Opportunity Programs and Ethnic Affairs and admissions officers, detailing requirements and services offered by SDSU to make the transition to college easier. Students then enjoyed performances from the K.O. hip-hop dance team, Phi Beta Sigma and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities, as well as a spoken-word poem from SDSU student E.J. Walls. Keynote speaker Frank Robinson, public affairs manager at Union Bank, spoke to students about the importance of accountability and hard work in all aspects of life. The event culminated with breakout sessions hosted by SDSU students and community volunteers, and a talent show in which students had the opportunity to perform for their peers. High school senior Drey Daniel shared his thoughts about the conference. “Today was very empowering,” Daniel said. “It inspired me to do better in school and reminded me that anybody can overcome their background to get where they want to be.”

A S B E AT Restructuring Update The Restructuring Committee has agreed upon a new multibranch structure for Associated Students in which a board of directors, judicial board, university board and campus life board work together while remaining in control of their own committees. The university board will oversee all academic committees, the campus life board will focus on extracurricular programs and the board of directors will handle the corporate side of AS. Members of the Asian Pacific Student Alliance and the

between the United States and Mexico was another obstacle made easier through Twitter. More than 60 percent of Twitter is in a language other than English. Frost said the X24 simulations have benefited from several Twitter users who have been especially innovative in dual-language tweeting. “Shakira is the champion of duallanguage tweeting,” Frost said. “She now tweets in Spanish, English and French. When she tweets, it goes to 14 million people. The U.S. government isn’t capable of that.” X24 Mexico’s website featured three live Twitter feeds alongside a real-time map, making the emergency simulation easily understandable to outside viewers and inviting people from around the globe to participate. This year, the simulation attracted participants from 43 countries. “If something happens now, people will be connected to it,” Frost said.” Twitter will make sure regular people are aware and involved in what’s happening.”

Andres Bonifacio Samahan, a Filipino cultural group, attended the meeting to discover how the Committee would include cultural organizations. “My only worry is that … (the Restructuring Committee is) going to stick all the cultural organizations into one branch; and from that branch you’re going to have one representative to go to A.S. or the Board of Directors, and that one representative is supposed to represent all those organizations,” APSA member Devyn Brown said to the Restructuring Committee on Friday. This could potentially be a problem, because each cultural organization may have unique issues and concerns, and their voices could be pigeon-holed through having only one representative. The committee assured Brown the point of the restructuring was to ensure cultural groups would have more efficient representation.

-Compiled by Contributor Amy Williams

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