Wednesday, January 05, 2005

people that do something :

An Internet site set up by an Italian schoolboy, and previously dedicated to "The Simpsons," is helping people track down loved ones missing since the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

Valerio Natale, a 14-year-old high school student, says two missing Italian holidaymakers--Dario Collodi and Liliana Giordanino--have already been found thanks to postings on his Web page, http://www.tuttosimpsons.altervista.org.

"I was paging through the newspaper and saw lots of ads from people looking for relatives," Natale said. "I asked myself, Why not make a free site that can help everybody? So I made a free site, which used to be dedicated to the famous American cartoon family, the Simpsons."

The site is devoted almost entirely to Italian citizens who disappeared in Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India when the tsunami hit on Sunday, killing tens of thousands.

It lists the names and ages of those missing, email addresses and phone numbers of worried friends and relatives, a link for photos of the missing, plus useful phone numbers such as Italian consulates, and hotels in Thailand.

The site has had 82,000 hits in two days, Natale said.


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