Within an hour after news broke of the devastating earthquake in Japan Friday morning, Google had deployed their crisis response page including their person finder technology.
Person finder is a public database that allows people to search for and/or add information about missing and injured persons. Right now, there’s about 7200 persons on record. You can also use the above widget to access the service.
There’s also a repository of resources linking to announcements and bulletins regarding transportation, utilities, and additional warnings related to the disaster aftermath. An updated news link and real-time twitter feed regarding earthquake news rounds out the resources on the page.
Google’s had a recent history of putting up crisis response pages, including the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand a month ago and the Haiti earthquake last January. Their Crisis Response team is part of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. We applaud Google for utilizing their considerable resources and technological expertise to help coordinate relief efforts in times of need.
More importantly, though, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan and their family and friends.
