The 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand has killed at least 75 and many more are injured. As with any major emergency, communication in and out of the area has become a major challenge. Google’s pitching in by maintaining a Crisis Response page to help people affected by the earthquake to find each other and guide them to resources.
The Person Finder is an embeddable tool that helps people look for someone or find someone. Thus far, there are 8,000 records in the database.
Google’s also using the page to consolidate information about the earthquake from Twitter users, YouTube and global news sources. If you have family in Christchurch or have been affected by the earthquake, we recommend keeping an eye on the page as the information is constantly updated.
Donations to the New Zealand Red Cross can be made here.
Hey guys, thanks for the note. We’re in one of the Christchurch suburbs with power and internet, but no water. A lot of the city is still worse off and it’s going to take a really long time to recover from this one. Of course we’re still having aftershocks too. I’d like to thank everyone who has helped in any way. To my fellow Cantabrians, kia kaha.