Google Centralizes Quake Relief Efforts

During and after a crisis situation, information can be sporadic and difficult to share in a chaotic situation. While Japan is continuing to deal with critical nuclear reactor circumstances, thousands of people are still missing after the tsunami and earthquake.

Google, like many companies, is trying to help in any way it can. And with Google, it's about data.

Their Google.org team has created the Crisis Response page, according to its blog, that centralizes links "to valuable resources such as emergency hotlines, Person Finder, blackout schedules, maps and links to relief organizations receiving donations."

The maps may be of most use, as they show what roads have reopened, where the blackouts reach, epicenter locations and recovery shelters.

Another major improvement is the page is optimized to be usable on second- and third-tier cell phones. Google notes that 93 percent of Japanese do not have top-of-the-line smartphones.

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