He calmly fielded calls from people trapped by the surging waters and doled out information on makeshift shelters.
For days Mr. Fink, who was soon joined by his colleague Joe Loverro, played matchmaker, soothing stranded residents, taking down numbers to relay to rescue workers and passing on information about makeshift shelters and closed roads.
Eliot Higgins, the man behind the Brown Moses blog, has compiled information on the makeshift aviation ordnance, or barrel bombs — the name given to what appear to be old storage tanks or sheet-metal cylinders packed with explosives and metal scrap.
One enterprising soul had attempted to address this information blackout with a makeshift sign taped to the front door of a building.
We meet residents of a makeshift transit camp and attend an information seminar on the benefits of life in the Middle East, both organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Mrs Wright, who was not involved with building the makeshift road, said: "They're not giving us any information - we have no confidence in them, we don't think they can afford the work needed".
In my makeshift profiles, I would write down significant pieces of information concerning a school.
As police and local groups started pooling their information, it emerged that attacks by a local makeshift militia on Congolese army positions increased every time a child was raped.
On the iPhone, Facebook addicts see a simple layout reduced to essential, finger-clickable information about friends, which can serve as a makeshift phone book.
"Patients, medical staff, aid workers and other witnesses have provided Human Rights Watch with information about at least 30 attacks on permanent and makeshift hospitals in the combat area since December," the group said.
