TeCh NeWs Of ThE DaY
Google app to trace persons missing in floods
MUMBAI: Search engine giant Google has launched an application "Person
Finder" to offer information on missing people in flood-affected areas
in the country, including Uttarakhand.
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, Google said in a blogpost.
"Since last week, the state of Uttarakhand in India has been grappling
with severe floods. Given that most of these areas in the state are
highly inaccessible with intermittent communication, Google Crisis team
bring you the Person Finder," the blog post by Jayanth Mysore, Google
APAC Senior Product Manager, said.
The tool can help trace the
missing people in flood-affected regions of Uttarakhand and is
available in Hindi and English, it added.data entered into Google Person
Finder is available to the public and searchable by anyone. The
programme also lets press agencies, non-governmental agencies and others
contribute to the database and receive updates by using the Person
Finder API based on the PFIF open standard.
Flash floods and
landslides triggered by the monsoon fury left over 150 dead in
calamity-hit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, while thousands of
pilgrims and locals are being rescued various districts, including
Rudraprayag and Chamoli.
50,000 people are still said to be
stranded in various parts of Uttarakhand that was hit by cloudburst and
floods. The calamity has ruined thousands of homes, rest houses and
buildings.
The official death toll still stood at 150, but
chief minister Vijay Bahuguna said the casualties could run into several
hundreds which will be known only when areas become accessible and
water recedes.
The state government's disaster mitigation and
management centre had in the morning said that the causalities could run
into thousands with about 90 dharamshalas (rest houses for pilgrims)
swept away in the flash floods.
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