Twitter Throws Japan a Lifeline

The natural disaster that struck Japan in March of 2011 came with serious consequences nearly 16,000 fatalities and upward of 2,800 people unaccounted for, at last count. Since then, the government of Japan has worked on disaster preparedness contingency plans in case of another massive earthquake.

The country may have a little more help (outside of the Red Cross, that is). Twitters Tokyo team launched Lifeline on Friday evening, a feature that allows users in Japan to more easily locate Twitter accounts that deliver pertinent local information in the case of another disaster.

So, according to Twitters example, if an earthquake hit in Yokohama, all a user would need to do is type in their postal code on Twitter.com. Lifeline brings up a list of relevant Twitter accounts from local media... [via AllThingsD]