CEBU, Philippines - In response to the devastation caused by super typhoon Yolanda, Google is offering its Person Finder: Typhoon Yolanda service to those in search for information regarding friends and loved ones.
Accessible via www.google.com.ph (click on ‘Resources related to typhoon Yolanda’), the service is essentially an open source web application that hosts a registry of those affected by natural disasters, anchoring its database on crowd sourced information – which means that its hosted information is open to the public, accessible/usable by anyone.
Those in search for someone or has information about someone can key in pertinent details into the service’s registry, including name(s), address(es), contact number(s), and photo(s).
The service also comes with a messaging function that can be used to leave a message intended for someone being looked for, or a message intended for those in search for someone.
As of 2:45 PM on November 10, the splash page of the service noted that it was tracking about 4,500 records. By 3:15 PM on November 11, the figure had increased to about 20,000 records.
Aside from www.google.com.ph, the service can be accessed via www.google.org/personfinder/2013-yolanda, or via SMS by sending a text message to 2662999 (Globe), 466499 (Smart), 22020999 (Sun) or +16508003977 with the message Search person’s-name (for example, if you are searching for Joshua, send the message “Search Joshuaâ€). (FREEMAN)