By Lynn Palec, | November 24, 2016
China launched its own AMBER alert program called Tuan Yuan in May. (YouTube)
China's AMBER alerts for missing children has a new member. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing has announced that it is joining the initiative to help find missing children.
AMBER was the brainchild of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. The project was first introduced in the United States in 1996 following the murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman.
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The AMBER initiative typically broadcasts missing child alerts across several mediums including radio and television. With the advent of the Internet and the growing ubiquity of the smartphone, it is expected that public services like AMBER will have a smooth transition towards the ever-growing digital platform to expand its service.
According to South China Morning Post, China launched its AMBER alert program called Tuan Yuan in May. It was initially a joint venture between the country's Ministry of Public Security and tech giant Alibaba. Since its launch, the project has grown into a massive network composed of more than 5,000 police officers deployed all over China.
With Didi Chuxing's massive area of operations, authorities are positive that the company will help their effort in finding missing children.
Once a child is reported missing, government authorities will upload all relevant information including the child's photo into the Tuan Yuan online platform. Once all information is uploaded, Didi Chuxing will send a missing person alert to all of its drivers located close to child's last known location.
According to Venture Beat, within the first hour after a child is reported missing, all Didi Chuxing's drivers within a 100km radius will receive the missing child alert providing them with necessary information about the child. The radius will expand to 200km after two hours, and 300km after three hours.
Aside from Didi Chuxing, major tech firms using the Internet as a platform are expected to join AMBER. Among them are Tencent QQ and Sina Weibo.
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