Mumbai blasts: People reach out to victims through Twitter, Facebook

NEW DELHI: First there was news. Then outrage. And then help. As TV channels flashed information about the bomb blasts, the news spread fast across the web. With confusion on the ground in Mumbai and phone networks choked, people used Twitter and Facebook to contact their friends and relatives in Mumbai.
Once the initial shock was over, tech savvy-users came together on Twitter and Facebook to offer help to blast victims.While initially the communication was little haphazard, soon people shaped it into a coherent flow of information that could help blast victims. Apart from #MumbaiBlasts, by 8PM #here2help and #needhelp were trending on Twitter.
Using #here2help tag hundreds of Twitter users in Mumbai stepped up to help stranded blast victims. While some offered shelter and food to stranded victims, a few others volunteered to drive stranded commuters to their homes. Some others volunteered to donate blood, if needed.
Around two hours ago these tweets were fed into a Google Docs spreadsheet by Nitin Sagar, who goes by @nitinsgr on Twitter with the document open to editing so that anyone wishing to add their numbers/location to the list could do so. While those using #needhelp were not many, there were reports on Twitter that several stranded people, including an American family, were managed to find help by following #here2help tweets.
Tech savvy users also set up a blog, a crowd-sourced map and a Wikipedia page to provide right and relevant information to people in real time.
The Google Doc spreadsheet on Mumbai blasts can be accessed here.