The first days after the earthquake and tsunami Japan, last March, is the most unsettling and stressful for Kei Kawai. From his residence in Mountain View, Calif., Kawai ensure the safety of all family members who live in areas with high waves swept it, except for his grandfather.
Kawai uses Google Person Finder service to seek help. The next day, he received confirmation that her grandfather survived.
Kawai is not just a casual user. He is a product manager at Google, was behind the operation of search services that shortly after the disaster. "We received lots of feedback from users. We know that the service works well," he said. "But it feels a little different when your own need."
Millions of people access the Person Finder Japan-made Google when Japan was still shaken by aftershocks after March 11, 2011. Google's service is aimed at collecting information about the earthquake victims separate from their relatives. Tens of thousands of people managed to find his family members thanks to Japan Person Finder.
Japan quake victims search service is launched into the world of the Internet just one hour after the incident. This search page has recorded 4,000 data in the first few hours since it was launched. Whereas in the first 36 hours, as many as 30 million people have accessed this page.
The data collected is very large. Five days after the quake, there were 202,400 names on the system and continue to grow more than 600 thousand names in early April 2011.
Google's Chief Technology Advocate Michael T. Jones said the Internet should contribute more in a crisis situation. Nowadays people are increasingly accustomed to dealing with others via the Internet using mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, tablet, or laptop computers. The device is likely still survived with survivors (victims who still survive) when the disaster occurred. "The idea is how to utilize Internet technology to cope with disasters. This will be a strength modifier is great," said Jones told Tempo.
Person Finder on Google, anyone can enter data disaster victims they encountered. This is very useful for survivors in the disaster area in finding each other but have a limited device. Rescuers can also act to register the identity of survivors and download them to Google's servers.
Personal data entered quite basic, start your full name, gender, age, home address, to physical traits. As a complement, can also put a personal photo of the person, which can be taken using a camera phone or obtained through the Internet link. Not to forget geotagging technology, which marks the position of the victim on the world map. "Searchers can tell the special needs that must be received by survivors, such as drugs for allergies and disease history."
Google is not the first company to provide this humanitarian service. When there is a hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, USA, in 2007, various companies provide people search services, such as the Katrina People Finder Project, Finder Katrina, Katrina Survivor, Katrina Save, and Disasterhelp. Without good data integration, recording efforts become scattered to different pages so that search troublesome because the search had to move from one page to another with a different interface.
Google became a big name insurance trust so that data recording can be done to a single server that has the verification algorithm. Google Person Finder was first operating in Haiti earthquake of 2010, and utilized on the condition of the Chilean earthquake, Pakistan floods, earthquakes Christchurch in New Zealand, and the latter, Japan earthquake.
Catastrophic tsunami and the earthquake could cripple the Internet infrastructure. However, this constraint can be handled. Government and humanitarian workers can prepare a portable machine capable of providing satellite Internet services in disaster relief center.
This facility can be a point of reporting the disaster condition and be valuable input for disaster response teams nasionaf. "Information gathered from the field will determine, from here can be decided who is saved, what needs help, and the locations affected," said Jones. "Through the Internet, the information available to governments and aid agencies around the world."
Jones also warned that Internet facilities can be used to inform the damage to roads and bridges that help determine the distribution channels. Similarly for humanitarian teams who need information on shelter availability and the nearest hospital so that no one send the victim to be saved. Therefore, mapping of post-disaster needs.
Mapping of this disaster can be done quickly through Google Map application. Survivors can be a volunteer who provides the latest information by providing a report through this application. The information is then used by the government and humanitarian agencies in the delivery of aid. *** [ANTON WILLIAM | ITBUSINESS | GOOGLE | KORAN TEMPO 3554]
How to search
Person Finder Google services on http://person-finder.appspot.com/ easier for people in search of relatives or friends who allegedly lost in the disaster. Specifically to search for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami Japan, Google provides a variety of search options and languages.
There are two choices: a search through "I'm looking for someone" or reporting through "I have information about someone".
Search:
- Click "I'm looking for someone" and you will be redirected to the next page.
- Enter the identity of the person you're looking for, can be a full name or surname, using the Latin alphabet, Hiragana, or romaji. Search can also use a home address or phone number. Click the "Search for this person".
- The next page will display a list of people according to the identity that you fill in before. Each person's name can be followed by data home addresses, phone numbers, photos, and final status.
- If the name is not found, there is a button to create a new record for the person you are looking for.
- Click "I have information about someone" and you will be redirected to the next page.
- Enter the full name of the person you are looking for, then click the "Provide information about this person".
- Google will display a list of names of people with the same name.
- Check the list of names. If someone wants reportedly already in the roster, you can update the data the person on the next page.
- If someone wants to report undocumented in the list, click the "Create a new record for" and you will be redirected to the next page.
- On the next page, fill in complete information about that person, of the characteristics of the body, home addresses, specific descriptions, photographs, and the final status of the person. You can also add location information that people use the Google Map. You are also entitled to specify an expiration limit the data entered.
- Save the data by pressing the button "Save this record".
