Jan
20
iPhone Helps Man Survive the Haiti Earthquake
It’s difficult to imagine what we would do without cell phones and Internet nowadays. I remember not too long ago when my friend didn’t have a cell phone — the frustrations of meeting up, not being able to call to find his ETA or telling him I was running late. Soon thereafter, he signed up for a cell phone plan and things have been easier ever since. Being online for over eight hours a day with my cell phone next to me, it’s hard for me to even think about not being connected — especially after becoming so accustomed to the convenience of it all.
So, what would the aftermath efforts of the Haiti earthquake be like sans cell phones and Internet? I mean, text messaging has accumulated over $24 million in donations to the Red Cross alone. This is a significant jump from just one week ago when history was made with the $4 million record. And now, a man is telling his tale of how he survived the Haiti earthquake with the help of his trusty iPhone?! How can we not live without these modern conveniences!
Dan Woolley, a documentary filmmaker for Compassion International, had just finished a day of shooting before the earthquake struck. “I just saw the walls rippling and just explosive sounds all around me,” Woolley tells The View‘s Meredith Vieira. By using his digital SLR camera to illuminate his surroundings, Woolley was able to take refuge in an elevator shaft.
Woolley sustained a compound fracture of the leg and cut to the head while caught in falling rubble. Knowing that he could die, he downloaded a first-aid app on his iPhone. It was like if an EMT was right beside him. The app gave instructions on how to treat his wounds. With directions from the iPhone app, Woolley stopped the bleeding from his head and safely applied a tourniquet to his leg. The app also warned him not to fall asleep, a possible fatality for those going into shock. So, he programmed his iPhone alarm clock to alert him every 20 minutes.
For the next 65 hours, Woolley waited until a French rescue team pulled him out. Just last night, four days after his rescue, he returned home to his family in Colorado Springs. MSNBC has in-depth coverage, including Meredith Vieira’s interview with Woolley and his wife.
Would Woolley have survived without his iPhone? It’s amazing how far technology has come…
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