Some people are posting messages on Facebook and other websites, looking for missing friends and family on websites including Facebook. (CBC)Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are providing a new tool for helping locate and rescue people missing following Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti.

With most phone lines down, people are turning to other options to contact help.

One Montreal woman helped save the life of a man after replying to a message she saw on Facebook.

On Wednesday, Stacy Delince got a message on Facebook from a woman in Haiti who said her neighbour was caught under the rubble of his house.

"[She] was a young lady and she wasn’t able to help, so she posted a message on Facebook," Delince said.

Delince said she immediately contacted the CBC, CNN and the Red Cross, providing them with the name of the man and his address.

Hours later, Delince said, her friends in Haiti and the Red Cross confirmed the man had been rescued.

"It's not someone that I know personally, but in this situation we are all together," Delince said.

Now, Delince and several of her friends are working to put together a website, www.unionhaiti.org that will provide a forum for people to share their stories or help look for loved ones.

"All the information that we’re getting, we’re posting it on the website," Delince said.

In the meantime, people are using Facebook and other sites to search for loved ones.

A woman who said she is the daughter of a missing Quebec civil servant posted her mother’s picture on a group called Haiti Earthquake Hotel Montana, named after a hotel hit by the quake.Stacy Delince contacted several media outlets and the Red Cross after getting a Facebook message about a man trapped under the rubble in Haiti. (CBC)

The appeal said: "My mother is … [supposed] to be there she's 54 blond, green eyes and she working for Quebec Government. Her name is Anne Labelle and she's with another women call Ann Chabot."

Technology helping collect donations

The internet is also serving as an important tool for aid organizations. Development and Peace director Michael Casey said his organization’s website got hits minutes after the earthquake.

Donations poured in almost instantly, Casey said.

"Probably the most striking contrast with the 2004 tsunami, where we had a really big emergency relief campaign, [is that ] in the intervening five years there has been a huge shift in the technology," he said.

Several aid organizations, including the Red Cross, are also using text messages to raise money.

Meanwhile, Montreal-based cable company Videotron is trying to help people get in touch with relatives affected by the earthquake. The company has announced that for a one-month period retroactive to Jan. 12, it will not charge for long-distance calls to Haiti.

The offer applies only to home phone lines.