Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), eBay (eBay) Helping Victims of Earthquake, Tsunami

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) are all helping in a variety of ways to aid the people of Japan and those concerned about their welfare who are now outside the country.

Google put together an online "person finder" database in Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese for people who are either seeking information about a missing person or have information to provide about someone affected by the disaster.

The search company also launched a service that lets people staying in shelters share the list of names of disaster victims posted at their locations. People can snap photos of the lists using their cell phone cameras and e-mail them. The photos automatically are uploaded to an online photo album. Google said it is entering the names on those lists into the person finder database by hand, so that others will know they are alive.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., said it was reaching out to customers and partners affected by the earthquake and offering them free technical support and temporary software licenses. The software maker also said it has a Web portal that governments, non-governmental organizations and other agencies can use to communicate with each other and with the public. For people interested in news about the disaster, it set up a page on its Bing search engine.

The company has also pledged $250,000 in cash, according to its disaster response website.

EBay Inc., is hosting auctions that give a portion or all of the proceeds to aid agencies helping out in Japan.

PayPal is crediting transactional fees for a month to qualified U.S. and Canada non-profit agencies that are raising money to aid in the disaster response in Japan.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) have both added links to their home page encouraging people to donate to help out with the relief efforts.




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