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Ann Curry Reunites Tsunami Victim and Family With the Aid of Twitter

by Terrence O'Brien on March 15, 2011 at 01:37 PM

Canon Purdy had just arrived the town of Minamisanriku, Japan when the deadly tsunami tore through the area, leaving more than half of its residents missing. Canon's sister, Megan Walsh, was desperate to find her; with the phone lines down, she turned to the Web for help. Megan began firing off tweets, both to the Internet at large and to specific media outlets, like CNN and the Japan Times, looking for assistance in locating her sister. "Please help with any news of evacuees," she pleaded.

NBC's Ann Curry spotted the messages and replied to Megan that she would do her best. Though initial efforts to track down Purdy using Google's People Finder failed, Curry didn't give up. She eventually located Purdy in a refugee center in the town. Curry quickly put Purdy on her cell phone to call her family back home in San Francisco, in order to let them know that she was okay.

The tearful reunion is at least one piece of good news to come out of the area, but please don't forget that there are plenty out there still missing and in need of help. We strongly urge you to do what you can, even if that means just giving a few dollars to the Red Cross.

Tags: ann curry, AnnCurry, canon purdy, CanonPurdy, japan, nbc, social networking, SocialNetworking, top, tsunami, twitter

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