The tragic March 11, 2011 earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear threat in Japan has captured the sympathies and attention of the world, as shown by the mainstream media here:

• New York Times before-and-after satellite imagery

Geospatial technologies have been instrumental in the rapid response for the past several years, but new abilities to incorporate real-time data such as Twitter feeds has created very powerful tools for the volunteers and rescue teams. These maps of Japan are online, free and open to have people contribute data, provided by private companies as well as non-profits:

• Ushahidi map of Japan
• InSTEDD map of Japan
• GeoIQ map of Japan
• ESRI map of Japan
• GeoEye’s before and after overlaid imagery with the slider
• DigitalGlobe images and analysis
• Astrium’s Spot Monitoring Services for responders
• RapidEye’s before and after imagery
• RADARSAT-2 images