Earlier this week, CNET's Ina Fried published a story on Microsoft Disaster Reponse Manager Gisli Olafsson and his recent recent experiences helping the people and country of Haiti: What a Microsoft rescue worker saw in Haiti.

While many people have jobs at Microsoft that aim to avoid disasters, Gisli Olafsson's job is getting through them.

As a full-time disaster management specialist for the software maker, Olafsson works with the United Nations and other agencies to prepare before devastation hits and also to coordinate efforts once it does. Olafsson has been sent across the globe to deal with the aftermath of earthquakes and hurricanes, offering help in rebuilding the infrastructure that nature has wiped away.

Before this article, most of us here at JobsBlog didn't even know Microsoft had employees dedicated to such efforts so we definitely wanted to share it with all of you. It's also interesting that Gisli began his career at Microsoft as a Program Manager in SQL Server in Redmond, but by combining his experience with technology with his interest in search and rescue, he moved into a job doing this type of work full-time, while being based in his native Iceland.

And even if disaster management isn't part of our jobs, it doesn't mean we can't make a difference. As of earlier this week, Microsoft employees had donated (including Microsoft's matching) $1.5M to Haiti earthquake relief.

gretchen