This event brings together disaster risk management experts and software engineers to solve issues related to disasters. The Random Hack of Kindness (RHoK) is an unlikely partnership among Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, NASA and The World Bank, but such critical problems require unprecedented collaboration. The first RHoK event took place in November 2009 in Silicon Valley and this weekend the RHoK hackathon will go global, with simultaneous events taking place in Nairobi, Sydney, Jakarta, Santiago and Sao Paolo.

The U.S. event will begin with a reception at the State Department on Friday, June 4, with a keynote speech by Vint Cerf, often referred to as the “Father of the Internet,” and opening remarks by Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, Special Representative of the State Department Global Partnerships Initiative; Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President of the Latin America and Caribbean Region, Linda Cureton, NASA Chief Information Officer and Curt Kolcun, Vice President of Microsoft Corporation's U.S. Public Sector.

“We express our continued support to the global community of hackers who volunteer their time and expertise to solve disaster risk management problems, as was the case recently in Haiti and Chile, proving how technology and development go hand in hand,” said Pamela Cox, The World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

During the first RHoK hackathon last November, the “I'm OK” mobile phone application was created, in which by pressing one button, a person can tell their family and friends that they're “ok” following a disaster. The application was deployed and successfully tested in the field during the Chile and Haiti earthquakes. At the close of the Global RHoK hackathon this weekend, teams will present the technologies they have developed and prizes will be awarded.