Google has established its people finder service for those affected by the 8.9 registered earthquake and resulting tsunami today.
Users can reach the service via a Japanese or English language version.
The system can be used for those looking for both Japanese residents and for tourists visiting the country.
It is the second time in the space of a month that Google has deployed the service following a huge earthquake which hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch in February.
Google is allowing bloggers, news organisations and, presumably, travel sites to embed the system for the people on their own sites, using a few simple lines of code:
<iframe
src="http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?small=yes&lang=en"
width=400 height=300 frameborder=0
style="border: dashed 2px #77c"></iframe>
Sendai Airport in North East Japan was hit by the tsunami shortly after the quake, which is estimated to have taken place around 150 kilometres offshore.
Footage of the airport was uploaded to YouTube within minutes of it appearing across TV networks.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te5m2BKdH7A
Google has now pushed the tsunami alerts to its main homepage:
NB: Latest information at Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
NB2: YouTube citizen tube portal.