Mobile Phone Users Seek Family, Friends through New Web Site

A provider of wireless content today launched www.katrinanetwork.org to help provide mobile phone subscribers with information on loved ones affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The site, created by Seattle-based GetLisa Information Services Inc., offers online information to people who do not have Internet access.

It works by letting people post information about missing friends and family. If those people respond to the postings, the original writer is alerted by e-mail or text message.

The site also supports self-publishing of information from mobile phones. “This is a key feature,” says George Woodward, GetLisa’s CEO. “Thousands of displaced people across the Gulf states are taking refuge in shelters with no Web access. By sharing Internet-capable cell phones, people can get the word out that they’re safe. They can also check for postings from loved ones, receive information automatically and respond all in a mobile framework.”

The services are free, and GetLisa developers are pulling together data from other bulletin boards to compile a comprehensive database.