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.