Asia-Pacific E-Resilience Toolkit Tool
Google Person Finder Platform
Google Person Finder is a web application that allows individuals to post and search for the status of relatives or friends affected by a disaster.
The program also lets press agencies, non-governmental agencies and others contribute to the database and receive updates by using the Person Finder application programming interface (API). In addition, websites can choose to embed Google Person Finder as a gadget on their own pages.
Google Person Finder is open source software meaning that any developer can create their own instance of Google Person Finder after a disaster. Person Finder has been launched in over 40 languages. It was developed in response to the Haiti Earthquake which occurred in 2010.
Users can get access to the website through smartphones or computers and seek information on loved ones’ whereabouts. Along with Google Earth, this program has contributed to several missing persons being found during and in the aftermath of several disasters, such as the Japan Earthquake in 2011.
