Google has made two tools available for relief workers involved with Pakistan’s historic floods. It’s been a bad year for natural disasters, but Google gained valuable insights in emergency management during the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. By talking to aid workers in the field, Google discovered that up-to-date information on hospitals (available medial equipment and staffing) was crucial.
From the Haiti crisis was born Google’s Resource Finder. It’s an online, editable Web page that lets health workers update status information on medical facilities. It’s also coupled with a map for providing positioning information. Google has made an early release of Resource Finder available for the Pakistan relief efforts.
Google’s Person Finder is a public on-line database that helps track down missing persons. This tool was available for the Haiti effort, and Google has launched a People Finder web page (in boh English and Urdu) for Pakistan.
Both of these tools are based on crowdsourcing ideas for getting information to the right people. Simple, but effective.
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- Google assists Pakistan flood relief efforts (teabreak.pk)
- Responding to the floods in Pakistan ( googleblog.blogspot.com)
- Pakistan Resource Finder
- Pakistan Person Finder
