copyeditor:

Google has set up a user-generated Person Finder tool and a Crisis Map for the Philippine floods.

It also has resources and links to data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Philippine Red Cross, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, as well as information on shelters and evacuation facilities, donation centers, weather updates, YouTube videos, and the flooding extent of the Marikina River.

Google earlier created similar tools and resource databases during the onslaught of Sendong in Mindanao last year, as well as during the Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear leak disaster.

More on ABS-CBNNews.com.

Person Finder

Maps and satellite imagery

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• Google Posts Crisis Response Page for Victims and Families of 2012 Philippines Flood (socialtimes.com)
• Google re-launches its People Finder tool to assist those dealing with the Philippines floods (thenextweb.com)
• You: Philippine capital hit by floods (bbc.co.uk)
• Floods rise in the Philippines as residents relocate from Manila amid torrential rains - @CNNi (edition.cnn.com)
• Manila suffers severe flooding following torrential rainfall (guardian.co.uk)

Fantastic read: “Mosquitoes and NIMBYism” at The New Yorker.

Strong (indeed, fundamental) and tight article on climate vulnerability by Laurie Goering, one of the best climate journos in the world. In her piece posted on Reuters AlterNet, Goering discusses the difficult the problem of measuring vulnerability to climate change in a way that can be useful for decision makers.

Which countries are going to suffer most from climate change? It’s a hard question to answer, as any U.N. climate negotiator can tell you.

But there’s now an excellent guide that suggests some answers. The Washington-based Global Adaptation Institute has released its annual look at climate vulnerability - a data-rich trove of interactive maps, statistical charts, rankings and other information on which countries are most naturally vulnerable, which suffer governance and other relevant problems, and which are making progress preparing for climate change.

The “readiness matrix”, for instance, suggests that Zimbabwe, Myanmar and Eritrea are the nations least prepared to deal with climate change, while Burundi and Central African Republic are the most intrinsically climate-vulnerable countries.

Read the rest at AlterNet

Chinese environmental groups claim that Apple manufacturers have been releasing harmful pollutants into the environment. A report by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and other non-governmental Chinese environment groups cited, for example, that an Apple factory in the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province released gases into the air that made it difficult for residents to open their windows.

“The large volume of discharge in Apple’s supply chain greatly endangers the public’s health and safety,” the report read.

it is widely believed by Chinese environmentalists that Apple is exploiting the country’s lax regulations….accused of discharging several dozen tons of sludge containing hazardous chemicals every day.

Source: IBTimes