We're always asking our users to tell us how Dropbox helps them out in everyday life. While we're always flattered by people who praise us for rescuing their homework and work presentations, we’re especially moved by the ways they employ Dropbox in times of crisis. Like the rest of the world, we've been captivated by the events surrounding the recent earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. While it's inspirational to see how technology has helped many in Japan quickly
find and communicate with loved ones, the many uses of Dropbox that have been crafted to aid Japan's recovery continue to amaze us.
- Dropbox has been employed by the disaster committee of the Tohoku earthquake to allow more than 50 professionals to share information and photos for analysis of the hardest hit areas of the disaster.
- Following the earthquake, many of Japan's railways were delayed or inoperable. One clever person took it upon himself to aggregate Twitter streams mentioning any of Japan's major rail lines, then host the page out of his Dropbox. This resulted in a quick and easy way for thousands of Japanese locals to have up-to-the-minute tweets on the status of the nation's transportation. Since its launch, this page has been viewed several hundred thousand times.
- With many pieces of information becoming available every second from multiple sources, it was difficult to get the full breadth of news related to the earthquake and tsunami. Another brillant group developed a page that aggregated Japan's primary news channels and twitter streams to provide a steady stream of information related to the incident to reach people without television.
What we're finding is that it's increasingly easy for a single person to work with Dropbox to affect and help many lives, and we're very honored to play a role. As crisis recovery continues in Japan, our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the disaster. We're also greatly inspired by those who are still working around the clock keep the country safe. If you'd like to help, we heavily encourage you to
donate to the Red Cross.
