Google Person Finder Launches Following Boston Explosions

If someone you know was one of the thousands of runners participating in the Boston Marathon and you are struggling to find and contact them, there are a few places online you can check. Since cell phone service has been cut in Boston , it's best to use the following site to attempt to track down anyone you know in the area.

Google .org, a site where Google develops new technology for remedying world issues, launched a person finder for the Boston Marathon late on Monday. On the site, you can either search for information about someone or provide information.

If you're looking for someone, all you need to do is type in all or part of that person's name and search for him or her. A message saying "Status: Someone has received information that this person is alive" will appear if there is positive information available regarding this person. You can click through to see who provided that information and when it was posted.

If you have information about someone at the scene, click "I have information about someone." That will take you to a page where you can provide more information about that person's whereabouts and health so that people looking for that person can find him or her and contact you. You will be asked to provide the person's name, a message to people looking for the person, whether of not you have spoken to him or her after the disaster, and your own name and contact information.