The weekend was marked by the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal. Death toll crosses 3,700 dead and over 6,500 injured. Many people also remain without news of their relatives and Google and Facebook have launched their respective emergency tools to help in the region, To inform their families of their whereabouts. And NGOs that are now flocking to Kathmandu, the nation’s capital, to help with the recovery operations. According to Spiegel Online currently are around 300,000 foreign tourists in the country.
The Google Person Finder (http://google.org/personfinder/2015-nepal-earthquake/), It allows you to query the database set up by the firm, By entering the name and surname of the person sought. You can Search is also through SMS in India and the US. Indian people have to text “search ” to +91-9773300000 in India or +1-650-800-3978 in the US. For example, had served in the disaster of Fukushima following the earthquake that had struck Haiti. Google person finder Also allows users to publish Web reports or information about people who have been injured, For example, in a disaster and himself can’t contact their families. Google also released the tool during the earthquake in Chile and the earthquake followed by the tsunami 2011 in Japan.
“If you are in a country affected by the earthquake area, you receive a notification that asks if you are sure, and if you want to check their friends,” writes CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. “When disasters happen, People need to know if their loved ones are safe. In moments like this, It is really important that you can stay in touch. My thoughts are with all those affected by this tragedy. “
The second proposes the exact opposite and will thus allow a witness or a person on site to provide information on the victims of the disaster.
Facebook goes a little on his side. Safety Check (https://www.facebook.com/about/safetycheck/) is present in the form of a mobile application totally independent and automated.
It will send a notification to all the people in the affected area. These do so will just have to touch the screen on their phone to indicate that they are safe or not. Their status is then recovered to their contacts, without any intervention on their part.
If these initiatives are to be welcomed, They are not without flaws, however. And the main problem is precisely that they are based on telephone networks to operate. Or in an earthquake, it is not uncommon that these facilities are the first affected.