Google launches people finder following Japanese 8.9 earthquake
From the archive: published Mar 11, 2011, 15 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Following the massive 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan tsunami warnings were issued for over twenty countries and the death toll began to be counted as people in the affected areas of the earthquake began searching for loved ones.
As they did following the earthquake in New Zealand Google had its finder application up and running within 2.5 hours. As well a developer in Tokyo, Shu Sigashi, who is a member of the OpenStreetMap foundation in Japan, launched a localized Ushahidi crisis platform.
When it comes to Google’s people finder app there were over 2,000 reports logged within a couple of hours and growing.