The Geek Church

If you’re keeping up on current world events , then you already know that another earthquake tragedy happened since the one in Haiti.  On Saturday, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the people of Chile and so far, three hundred lives were lost.  In light of this terrible event, Google has developed a way to provide hope and closure for survivors of the earthquake, their families and the families of those still missing or lost.

This means of hope is a new online service that functions similar to a search engine.  However, there is a difference with this new product since it also allows users to file and submit information as well as looking it up online.  The service is called Person Finder.  It allows people to do an online search for information about specific individuals by using their names and the option to submit information about persons of interest also exists.

Since Sunday morning, 22, 900 records on certain individuals have already been submitted.  However, the people at Google make it very clear that this new service will not be closely monitored and the information submitted will not be verified.  Essentially, the data for information searches or submissions is available in English and Spanish and primarily those who look up or give information are responsible for it.

I find it interesting that Google also provided a person finder service for the people of Haiti.  Personally, I’m impressed with Google’s efforts in providing this new service.  I see it as a thoughtful act of generosity and kindness and it can give hope to people looking to see if loved ones in Chile during the tragedy survived.  Furthermore, it could also bring closure to those who have lost relatives or friends.

Google also provided a crisis response page for Americans searching for persons of interest in Chile and phone calls can be made to the U.S. State Department at 1-888-407-4747.  The page contains a map that monitors seismic activity currently in Chile and has resources for donations to be made to various charities for the crisis relief effort.  Speaking for myself, I now have a new respect for Google.  Be sure to check out the link below for more information.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10461112-93.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

Tags: Google, Google People Finder

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 4:22 pm and is filed under Misc., Tech Trends, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.