Rival Web firms join hands

The earthquake that hit Sichuan province on Saturday has united rival Internet companies to help people look for missing relatives and friends.

Baidu, the country's largest search engine, launched a platform on Monday that aggregates information to help track missing people. The information was previously scattered on seven websites launched by different Internet companies, such as Renren, a Facebook-like social network, and Qihoo 360 Technologies, a Beijing-based Internet firm.

More than 17,000 pieces of information have been added to the platform, attracting about 245 million views from users by 3 pm on Monday, about four hours after its launch, Baidu said.