I’ve only just become aware of the quake in NZ. Thoughts and prayers going out to all people directly and indirectly affected by this disaster. :-((
The web app below is a project of Google Crisis Response division of Google.org.
It gives people the ability to search for information regarding friends and relatives affected by disasters.
When and why did Google build Google Person Finder?
Google engineers built Google Person Finder in response to the January 2010 Haiti earthquake in order to help those affected by the earthquake connect with their loved ones. In 2005, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, multiple websites created missing person registries, so families and aid workers had to search in multiple places when looking for information. Google Person Finder addresses this problem by accepting data from other registries in a common format and searching over all the data.
More information about the app can be found on the Google Person Finder Wiki
