“It appears as though the highest concentration of distress calls came from three ZIP codes — 77044, 77049, 77078 — that are largely black or Latino with relatively low incomes.”
Here’s Where Houston’s Calls For Help Were The Loudest
▻https://www.buzzfeed.com/maryanngeorgantopoulos/houston-social-media-rescue
BuzzFeed News crunched data compiled by a group of coders and organizers — some members of the #AltGov movement, one a Snopes employee, and some former government officials who worked on Katrina relief — known as @harveyrescue and Harvey Relief. They are compiling and mapping rescue requests from social media and entering them directly on a spreadsheet being circulated on social media. And while every post hasn’t been verified, and the list of posts isn’t definitive and is consistently evolving, it appears as though the highest concentration of distress calls came from three ZIP codes — 77044, 77049, 77078. The neighborhoods are largely black or Latino with relatively low incomes.
BuzzFeed News spoke to nearly 30 people in those those three ZIP codes and two neighboring ZIP codes that saw a high volume of social media posts, offering a glimpse into how people used social media as they grappled with the devastation Harvey left behind.