In the last 2 days I’ve emailed, Facebook messaged, Twitter direct messaged and texted friends to check on them in Japan and make sure they’re either off the coast or leaving the radiation zones of Tokyo. Everyone’s okay.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m currently reading Gary Shteyngart’s post-apocalypse novel “Super Sad True Love Story” or the guilt of enjoying TV on the Radio at the Zynga party as a whirling dervish of Twitter donations to the earthquake efforts zoomed past on LCD screens - but this particular disaster feels personal.

It’s a surreal reality to travel from SXSW interactive, the conference where social juggernauts like Twitter and Foursquare found their followings, and realize that the fragmented nature of multi-platform communication is hurting our ability to connect in a time of crisis. And while technologists will immediately jump to Facebook as the “walled garden”, there are far worse offenses. In fact, due to the needs reporting required of many NGOs to maintain their funding, some nonprofit organizations also fall into this “walled garden” category.

Think about it. If your mission is to provide response to those in need, is it really beneficial to offer service intake systems that aren’t accessible to other organizations? Thankfully a select few are beginning to play nice.

In 2010, I got my first taste of open emergency response models after interviewing members of 4636 who with the help of InSTEDD aggregated requests, translated them and deployed services off a centralized text code. Then recently I discovered Ushahidi, a non-profit tech company whose software platform and products let you to connect Twitter, text message and mapping visualizations in an effort to deploy aid. And just last week, I came across a group of programmers and designers who were talking about something called CrisisCamp - a hackathon that helps assist communities in crisis response.

It’s inspiring how much the Gov 2.0 community has produced in relation to crisis response. I just hope adoption by NGOs continues to grow and that random hacks of kindness become less random. I just signed up for the Crisis Commons Wiki on the Honshu Quake to see what I can help with and I’m keeping an eye out for another Crisis Camp in my neck of the woods. Honestly though, I’m feeling like a bit of a helpless loser. If you’ve got other ideas on how a non-programming but technically-minded person can help, let me know in the comments below.