I have been following the news from Hurricane Katrina with strong interest since I grew up in New Orleans and frequently return. I have no family there now but have great love for the city.

Andy Carvin (pictured), of Digital Divide, has set up a Hurricane Katrina Aftermath blog so that anyone can post a blog entry, podcast or photo to the site covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His is hoping that residents of the Gulf Coast will be willing to call in and let people know how things are going for them. Similarly, anyone who would like to share ways to help out, or wishes to share their thoughts on the hurricane, may post as well.

You can post a blog entry by sending an email to katrina2005.comments (at) blogger.com. The title of your email will be the title of the blog entry, and the email body will be the blog entry body.

You can record a podcast:

Dial 1-415-856-0205
Enter login 515-515-5555
PIN code 2005, then the # key Record your message
Press the # key to save, then the 1 key to post

You can post a photo: The website is collecting photos from Flickr.com that are tagged with the word "hurricanekatrina." Simply log on to Flickr (or create an account), upload photos, and use this tag. Photos appear in the right column of the blog's homepage.

Andy has also set up a "tag-o-rama" inside the right column of the blog. It displays links to relevant key words like hurricane, katrina and new orleans, linking to tagged content from Technorati (blogs), Flickr (photos) and del.icio.us (websites).

Andy has demonstrated a great use of blogs and related technology to enhance communication around the unfortunate event.