Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Portland Ties With Airbnb On Disaster Preparedness

Is online room rental service Airbnb the answer to disaster preparedness in Portland? In an interesting effort announced by Airbnb and the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, the two announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which would use Airbnb's hosts as part of the city's emergency preparedness plans. The MOU says that during a state of emergency, Airbnb would help coordinate rooms for disaster service workers and displaced people; provide materials on emergency preparedness to hosts; notify hosts of significant hazardous conditions; and work with the city to connect hosts to local, emergency response training resources.