A large earthquake has again struck Nepal, this time with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale. Things get rather difficult during these times, with not only physical issues like electricity outages and roads being blocked, but also on a more personal level of people having concern for their loved ones in the affected region.
The last time this happened, internet phone providers like Viber, Microsoft and Google either lowered their rates heavily or completely removed all calling rates for those trying to get in contact to numbers in Nepal both domestically and abroad.
In the advent of yet another earthquake in Nepal, Viber has taken the lead this time in making all phone calls from Nepalese lines free, including calling other numbers in Nepal as well as calling overseas lines from Nepal.
Other companies are likely to respond to the crisis in various ways; Google, for example, has already extended its Crisis Response Program to include a Person Finder tool for victims of the Nepalese earthquake. This tool was originally deployed in 2011 after the Fukushima earthquake in Japan, and was also used just a couple of weeks ago in the original set of earthquakes to hit Nepal.