Google Launches Tool to Find Chile Quake Victims
Google has launched a person finding tool for people involved in the recent earthquake in Chile.
Early Saturday morning an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale rocked Chile. The death toll has exceeded 700 but scores of people are still hopeful their loved ones will be found safe. To help these folks, Google has thrown together a simple tool to locate the lost.
Dubbed Person Finder, the tool is a searchable database for those who have information about someone, as well as those trying to locate a loved one; you can search the database or submit details if you have information about a person.
While the page does contain a disclaimer warning users that Google has not reviewed or verified any of the data, it's great to see a company like Google making the effort to help. You can bet that of the 38400 records currently in the system, someone is going to find it useful.
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Evil Google do good?
It's a nice idea but it's sad that it can't help physically track the person (with a GPS and the cellphone of the person for instance). It just gives info as to whether the person as been found or not.
Good job Google.
this is pretty scary especially if you have a stalker.
also, imagine a paparazzi using and abusing this tool.
its normal. about every 20 years they have one of this size in this area, and then its normal to feel small ones every day.
fortunately they use building techniques to minimize damage. these people are quite resilient.
Kudos to Google for getting it up and running. Finding out about friends and family in disaster areas can be difficult because of destroyed infrastructure and downed communications, having a centralized database available to the public is a great idea for those looking for information on their loved ones at times like this.
While I applaud what google has done, the question is did Google responded the same for the victims of Haiti. Did google create a "Person Finder" for the Haitian people? hmmm
Evil Google do good?It's a nice idea but it's sad that it can't help physically track the person (with a GPS and the cellphone of the person for instance). It just gives info as to whether the person as been found or not.
Umm this is Chile, cell phones wouldn't be popular enough to make a vast difference.
Glad to see Google's next move to world dominance is benevolence. There are worse ways to gain power. /Sarcasm, Thank you Google.
Wow, bumbedamit you must really have something against Google for complaining that they didn’t come up with this earlier… Now I want Google to have come up with Google Maps 15 years ago for that time I got lost back then!
There's a lot of people using it as we speak, here in Chile. There are hundreds still lost all over the coast line of the country (i'm from Santiago, Chile) where the Tsunami's hit after the earthquake and this tool is providing a LOT of help. Simple, yet it's usefullness is amazing; the same goes with twitter so far.
Thanks Google for your concern!
And thank you Tom's Readers for your kind thoughts; our country people need kind thoughts for their lost ones.
Now, if you ask me, Haiti still needs more help than us. We're fine by our selves so far.
Cheers!
I have nothing at all against google, I use it everyday and even have my personal email with them. I'm just pointing out that the Haitian quake that happend 40 days ago not 15 years ago, where was google then with their "Person Finder"? There are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people dead and still missing in Haiti, that's all I'm saying.
gumbedamit>
What I was thinking is they learned / were thinking about ways to help after the Haiti quake and slam Chile came along.
Lets think positive. They didn't have to do anything for either of these situations... but they are.
If you had family or friends there, I'm certain your would have a different opinion. What's stopping them from doint it now, there are still TENS OF THOUSANDS of people still MISSING in Haiti
Good idea, google! Always good to see companies taking initatives like this.
Just a small comment, the earthquake measured 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, not the richter scale.
Every little bit helps.
What about people who go missing in North America every day? Kinda seems wrong how people only do something when there's a lot of media about it.
its normal. about every 20 years they have one of this size in this area, and then its normal to feel small ones every day. fortunately they use building techniques to minimize damage. these people are quite resilient.
Unfortunately, that's the truth. This recent earthquake was the 5th most powerful recorded anywhere in the world since 1900. That's how hard it was.
And the most powerful earthquake ever recorded also took place in Chile exactly 50 years ago, in 1960. It was a 9.5 magnitude quake. It gives you shivers just to think about it ...
While I applaud what google has done, the question is did Google responded the same for the victims of Haiti. Did google create a "Person Finder" for the Haitian people? hmmm
Yes, THEY DID!!! A little research would have confirmed it, but apparently lambasting Google was more important that finding out the facts: Haiti Person Finder (powered by Google)
Umm this is Chile, cell phones wouldn't be popular enough to make a vast difference.
Oh! You mean that because Chile has 100% cell phone penetration (i.e. 1 cell phone per person)?
There's a lot of people using it as we speak, here in Chile. There are hundreds still lost all over the coast line of the country (i'm from Santiago, Chile) where the Tsunami's hit after the earthquake and this tool is providing a LOT of help. Simple, yet it's usefullness is amazing; the same goes with twitter so far.Thanks Google for your concern!And thank you Tom's Readers for your kind thoughts; our country people need kind thoughts for their lost ones.Now, if you ask me, Haiti still needs more help than us. We're fine by our selves so far.Cheers!
Un abrazo desde el otro lado de la cordillera. Espero que se recuperen muy pronto. Mucha fuerza!
obviously the reason Google never set up a Haitian person finder was because... they totally did?
http://haiticrisis.appspot.com/
nevermind that, even if they hadn't, the ICRC had already set up a person trace website shortly after the disaster, a service that had become so well-known that the google app would've been unnecessary. regardless, they did it (i think also using info from the ICRC database).
I think that you guys did not read my orignial post and just decided to LAMBASTE me. In case you did not read my original post there was a questioned asked, but I'll copy the original post here...
While I applaud what google has done, the question is did Google responded the same for the victims of Haiti. Did google create a "Person Finder" for the Haitian people? hmmm
There was a question posed, the answer only came after you guys decided that I was the bad guy.