Update, 5:10 p.m. ET: The document is no longer public. See below for how you can still access it.</strong>
A Google Docs spreadsheet is being widely circulated on the Internet, following three bomb blasts in Mumbai, India. The document, simply titled “Mumbai Help,” provides contact information for Mumbai residents, along with information on the type of aid they can provide.
In addition to listing phone numbers for official help locations, such as blood banks and the police control room, the spreadsheet includes individual offers to help with food and shelter. Other Mumbai residents have offered to donate blood, while some have said that they can make calls, send text messages and emails, or tweet on behalf of others. Additional tabs within the document provide opportunities for people to add the names of those who are missing or injured as a result of the blasts.
The document, which appears to have been started by Nitin Sagar (who lists his location as New Delhi on Twitter), has been making the rounds on Twitter. A few hours after it was posted, the document was updated to say: “The document has been protected from public view due to privacy concerns. I am inclined to believe the spreadsheet served its purpose.” The updated spreadsheet does provide viewers with an email address to contact in case people are still seeking help or information posted to the document earlier in the day.
An interactive map of the blasts can be viewed at WSJ.com, while a map of #MumbaiBlasts tweets can now be viewed on Google Maps.
The three explosions took place at rush hour Wednesday in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, located in the state of Maharashtra. As The Times of India reports at the time of this post’s latest update, the attacks killed at least 21 people and injured 141.
The attacks took place almost simultaneously: One attack hit Dadar in central Mumbai, while the other two were at Zaveri Bazaar — a famed jewelry market — and the busy Opera House business district. Zaveri Bazaar and the Opera House district are both in southern Mumbai. The Times of India reports that the close timing of the explosions has led India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram to say that they are being considered a “coordinated attack by terrorists.”
Mumbai was last under attack in November 2008, when 10 gunmen coordinated a series of blasts and shootings in which 166 people were killed. Terrorism seems to be a topic on the minds of many Indian citizens at the moment. Twitter user @ShreyGoyal says, “Simultaneous bomb blasts at rush hour, business as usual⦠We seem to be at-home with terror incidents. Is that a good thing?” And Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has tweeted: “Anger, frustration and helplessness is NOT the answer. Hanging the terrorists already convicted is. Prayers for all.”
Additional tweets under the #MumbaiBlasts hashtag include offers of help, links to blast crowdmaps, links to photos depicting the aftermath of the blasts, as well as vows not to publish those very images.
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