credits: Google Earth

Crisis in Darfur

Google Earth shows the ravages of genocide in Sudan village by village, with links to how you can help

Google has lauched a campaign using Google Earth to highlight the genocide in Darfur. In a satellite view of the world, a portion of Central Africa is lit up in an orange blaze. Marked with the words, “Crisis in Darfur,” clusters of flame icons mark the ravages of ethnic cleansing and unchecked warfare between government militias and rebels that have left more than 200,000 human beings dead.

Google collaborated with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to create the new Google Earth feature, which they hope will put the crisis in Sudan at the forefront of global consciousness. The goal is to make the devestation in Darfur unavoidable by dropping viewers into the ghostly remains of charred huts from a nation under the sword.

Andria McCool, a former Google employee, started the project two years ago. “I hope it makes a difference,” McCool said. “I hope some politician sits down and has a conversation with somebody else who’s a skeptic and opens up their computer and goes on the Internet and says, ‘How can you dispute this?”

Besides pictures, each pop-up window provides a “How can I help link?” that takes you to information on relief organizations and government websites.