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Nepal Missing: Social Media Hunt After Quake

Desperate friends and relatives are using social media and an emergency search tool to find their loved ones in the aftermath of the Nepal quake.

With more than 2,500 killed and thousands more injured in Saturday’s disaster, Google fired up its Person Finder tool which aims to reconnect people after natural disasters.

Its back to basics design has two simple options – "I’m looking for someone" and "I have information about someone".

Photos and social media profiles can be uploaded, as well as details of a person's appearance.

One of those named on the site, first developed in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, is Abdulla Dahab, who lives in London and had been backpacking in Nepal.

The 20-year-old had last contacted his family on Friday telling them he was due to climb to the height of 4,600m on Mount Everest.

But his sister Noora Dahab said he has not been in touch since the earthquake and they have been unable to get hold of him.

She wrote: "We are desperately in need of some news of my brother, please if you can help us in any way let me know.

"My family and I are incredibly worried following this tragic earthquake and we would truly appreciate any help you can offer."

Another British tourist still thought to be missing is 60-year-old Marcus Barthropp.

The post says he is 6ft 2in, bald, has a moustache and tattoos of crows on his leg.

A number of others have since been found.

They include Laura Wood, from Huddersfield, who was trekking in the Himalayas.

An update posted on Sunday said the 23-year-old, who was described as "glowing lovely beautiful" and "often dressed in hippy type clothing." is "alive and well" and has contacted her father.

Sebastian Lovera, a 22-year-old from Tonbridge, has also been located since his family turned to the site to urge anyone with information to get in touch.

His stepfather, Greg Smye-Rumsby, wrote: "We haven't heard from him. He would not have switched his phone off.

"We have tried ringing it. Sometimes it rings and sometimes we get an answer but it's an automated answer. It says the phone is switched off."

Facebook has also stepped in to help, setting up a "safety check" which asked users in the area affected by the quake to register whether or not they were safe.

Faces of the missing also appear on a Facebook page, Nepal Earthquake 2015.

A family of three from Australia, including a baby girl, Alaya Cullen, are among those listed as missing. The family only arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday.

An additional missing persons list has been set up by The British Red Cross .

The hunt for the missing and injured is set to intensify in the coming days as international search and support teams arrive.

Among those flying out from Britain is an eight-strong team to provide humanitarian support.

Fourteen volunteers from UK charity Search and Rescue Assistance in Disasters are also heading to Kathmandu with 1.5 tons of specialist equipment to rescue people from collapsed buildings.

:: The Foreign Office has advised that any British Nationals in need of consular assistance call +44 (0) 207 008 0000 or text NEPAL to +447860010026.