Using Technology for Humanitarian Projects
David May 20th, 2008
The LDS Church has received great appreciation for its efforts from Hurricane Katrina. President Henry B. Eyring even mentioned a personal phone call from Pres George W. Bush to Gordon B. Hinckley at a recent multi-Stake Conference address, admiring the quick and effective efforts of local church members. But even the best organizations would be amiss if they didn’t take advantage of what they may learn from others.
With thousands of people affected by the Sichuan, China earthquake, Google China staff members rolled up their sleeves and joined other rescue organizations.
At the request of the government, we obtained new satellite images of Sichuan province (Earth KML) to help them better focus their recovery efforts. We developed and launched a “lost loved one” search based on our Custom Search Engine (CSE). To populate the CSE index, hundreds of Googlers worked around the clock looking through published tables, hospital records, news reports, and community sites. We tuned our Chinese news search, video search, image search, blog search, and oneboxes. We also partnered to build community sites, and launched both homepage promotions and a map-based information page. Google China has an extremely dedicated and passionate team and I am deeply honored to work alongside them.
Google has also set up a donation page so that you can donate directly towards recovery efforts. Similarly, donations can be made on the LDS Philanthropies donation page for any of the humanitarian projects around the world or using a donation slip at your local congregation.
Looking for a way to help someone more needy than yourself? Writing a check is certainly one way to ease your conscience, especially when it comes to tough problems like starvation in Africa. CNN reports Famine fears for seven million Ethiopian children