Acknowledgement, brief history and word of thanks
The initiative for TISEI was made by a small group of professionals at the University Medical Center and the Central Military Hospital (see picture right) in the Netherlands. They were involved in the care for the a group of repatriated people that needed medical treatment. In the night of January 1 2005 22 patients were flown back from Phuket, among who some severly injured, many had lost family members, while others were relatively spared from the devastating effects of the tsunami. They were medically screened and psychiatric consultation was provided where needed. They were also reunited that night with their families and friends.
This had a strong impression on the nurses, doctors and other professionals. The idea to launch this website originated in the following days. Prior studies learned that in the aftermath of trauma information is important, contact with other victims, and building a database to learn about the effects of the disaster. The site should offers possibilities for victims to structure their emotions throught a survey, contact other victims though a forum, track missing persons, and provides electronic consultation and information through links and documents. Local users groups would enable electronic consultation in other countries than the Netherlands.
It resulted in a rather unorthodox initiative in which several diciplines combined their expertise: preexisting expertise with family tracking systems, network systems, experience with electronic consultation, and expertise with the assessment of the effects of trauma.
The project group has received no financial renumeration. We are seeking financial support to continue this project, build local users groups and reach victims worldwide. The initiative is hosted by an 'ECHOES', a group at the University Medical Center of Utrecht, the Netherlands that seek to use web-based services to connect people that are victim of disaster or catastrophe with large regional impact ove the borders of countries and languages. This NGO brings weveral disciplines togeher from medical and ICT domain.
A brief history
December 26, 2004
Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia
Januari
Januari 1: Repatriated patients to Emergency Hospital, The Netherlands
Januari 6: Initiative for portal en websurvey was approval by the Investigational Review Board of the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands
Januari 14: Site www.tisei.org goes live in testenvironment, is hosted on secure server
Januari 21: The site goes live: Press conference in The Hague that resulted in good media coverage.
January 28: Forum goes live. the Dutch forum is being visited frequently.
Februari
February 5: Webportal goes live.
February 6: NGO ECHOES ONLINE is founded, mission is to build community for victims of disasters through the use of web-based services.
February 12: New languages arrive. A newsletter is prepared though backoffice.
February 26: The forum is visited on regular base, the Dutch site is working perfect.Other sites are in testphase.
March
March-April: Several languages are uploaded. Local users group database is prepared. Local users groups can receive storage space and are able to modify texts.
March-April: Translations are coming in, with help from many many translators we the portals are imporved for readibility and accuracy.
March-April: We have received several other translations now: Russian, Swedish, Indonesian. As you can see, the site is still being worked on.
April
April 2: We have approached the International Society of Traumatic Stress, and several local members in countries wordwide.
April 10: We have approached the World Psychiatric Association, and the president Prof Ahmed Okasha has sent letters to several countries. So far we have received positive respons for participation as a local users group from Canada, Italy, Finland, UK and India, and several persons have responded favorably and asked for information.
May
May: Several languages are added and portals have been opened. We are working on a default contract for user groups. We are working on offering it for free, or a minimum cost.
May 15: Liaison with ISTSS has been approved. A request for partnership with Dr Elisabeth Carll is pending.
June
June 1: A sleep questionnaire has been added.
June 6: New feature for organisation of meetings and events built into website.
June 11: Meeting day for Dutch victims, friends is attended by 110 visitors
July
Site is being used for web-research in Dutch victims.
Aug-Oct:
A community is built, international connetions are made. Germany and Canada have provide full support. Other countries expressed interest but remained on the sideline. It is made clear that the service is offered for free. It is felt that an organisation that is supporting TISEI is critical fo its acceptance by other countries. A liason with ISTSS is approved by ISTSS. Connections with United Nations are explored
November:
Nov 18: TISEI participated on a UN World Summit on ICT in Tunis
Nov 22: TISEI is partnering in a calender by the UN/ISDR and invited to the launch of the calendar at the Palais des Nations. Twelve other organisations that were importnat in the tsunami and othe disaster management activities were also invited. The ISDR effort is built around communication.
Nov 23: At a Conference of the German Society of Psychiatry Nov 22nd the first cross sectional 10 moth follow up results were demonstrated.
December
Dec 12: Contact with ambassador of Thailand to explore possibilities to start a memorial guest book.
Dec 21: A book Over][leven, by Dutch authors with interviews of Dutch survivors has been presented. The book contains the stories of the fiirst year after the tsunami, this is the year OF the tsunami. The book contains heartfelt stories and is beautifully illustrated. Thanks to many of the people who responded through the TISEI website.
In 2007 the website has received many visitors, more than anticipated. We therefore decided to keep the site open and accessible. The project group has made several connections with ohther partners and as NGO will continue as ECHOES ONLINE dedicated to community building after trauma.
On July 7 a Dutch memorial has been opened.
Word of thanks
The initiative for TISEI is supported by the Calamity Hospital (
www.calhosp.nl), Central Military Hospital (
www.cdc.nl/mgfb/cmh) and is carried out via the University Medical Center Utrecht (
www.umcutrecht.nl), in collaboration with the department of Social Sciences of the University of Utrecht (
www.uu.nl).
The initiative for TISEI is supported by the Calamity Hospital (
www.calhosp.nl), Central Military Hospital (
www.cdc.nl/mgfb/cmh) and is carried out via the University Medical Center Utrecht (
www.umcutrecht.nl), in collaboration with the department of Social Sciences of the University of Utrecht (
www.uu.nl).
The TISEI survey was drawn up with the assistance and advice of various national and international experts in the field of disasters and aid to victims.
The translation of the questionnaires was realised by Babel Language Institute Utrecht / The Hague (
www.babel.nl). The portals have been translated by several professional transltors who we wish to thank in a separate note on this webpate.
The electronic consultation is an existing facility of the Brain Division in the UMC Utrecht and is carried out by Mediportaal (
www.mediportaal.com) and Evident Interactive (
www.evident.nl).
We would like to thank all these organisations and companies; they have contributed to the realisation of this site free of charge.
The website has been facilitated by Crossing Channels (
www.crossingchannels.com) and is supported by Microsoft (
www.microsoft.com), HP (
www.hp.com), KPN (
www.kpn.com) and Intel (
www.intel.com). We would like to thank these companies for the assistance they have offered with minimal charge.