Google has finally expanded their Public Alerts system to include the Land of the Rising Sun, otherwise better known as Japan. This is definitely good news for folks living in that area, as Japan is a disaster prone country, and according yo Yu Chen, Google’s partner technology manager, “It’s important for people in Japan to have crisis preparedness and response information available at their fingertips. We know that when a disaster strikes, people turn to the Internet for more information about what is happening.”
Ever since Public Alerts was launched for the US last year, Japan has the honor of being the first international location to be on the receiving end of Public Alerts, where it will notify the general populace of an impending emergency whenever they look for information online. Each time you perform a search online during a crisis, all relevant tsunami and earthquake alerts for Japan will show up on Google Search, Google Maps and Google Now. It is also comforting to hear that Google intends to expand their Public Alerts to additional countries (albeit unnamed) “soon”.
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