AirBnB and disasters

The Herald reports:

The Government will be able to provision Airbnbs in the event of a national emergency to accommodate people who have been displaced.

This morning, the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MEDEM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the company.

The agreement was a first of its kind in the Pacific region and only the second national-level partnership behind the United States. …

Over the past few weeks, Airbnb had activated the programme in response to the California Wildfires and New Zealand flooding.

Eastern Otago was hit with heavy rain in recent days – a number of bridges and roads have been closed due to the flooding in the area.

Emergency messages were sent to more than 8300 Airbnb hosts and guests in areas affected by flooding in the South Island.

Meanwhile, in California, more than 2200 hosts have offered housing to those in need.
More than 1800 people have been housed and emergency messages have been sent to more than 40,000 hosts and guests in the affected areas.

What a great idea. Hopefully we won’t need to use it often, but a simple way to get thousands of people housed in an emergency.