UPDATE: Tragically, on 7th March 2011, it was confirmed that Phil had died in the earthquake. My condolences to Phil’s wife and family.

—————————————

Phil Coppeard is one of the many missing people following the terrible earthquake that hit Christchurch in New Zealand on Tuesday 22nd February at 12:51pm.

Phil moved to Christchurch a few months ago with his wife who was interviewed on Thursday 24th February on Radio New Zealand National. She talked about where Phil was going and what he was wearing.

You can hear the interview here:
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20110224-1038-Suzanne_Craig-048.mp3

Phil is 41 years old. 6′ tall with green eyes, brown hair and sideburns. He was wearing jeans and would have been carrying a backpack, probably listening to music on his iPhone.

He was on his way to Canterbury University and had left home between 12:15 and 12:30 to catch the #3 bus from their home in Redcliffs in the eastern outskirts of the city. The route meant Phil would go through the Bus Exchange on Litchfield Street in the centre of Christchurch. Its just a couple of blocks from the Cathedral which you may have been on the news.

Given the times, it is likely Phil was on a bus in the centre of Christchurch at the time of the earthquake.

When Suzanne tried to call Phil initially, the phone just rang through to voicemail and now it is going straight to voicemail which almost certainly means the battery has died. Suzanne and friends have been doing the rounds trying to see if Phil has been registered by any of the emergency services or hospitals but so far without success. Apparently, some of the injured have been take to hospitals in other parts of New Zealand so there is no guarantee Phil is still in area.

Phil is the type of person who would do anything he could to make contact if he were able so the concern is he is injured or trapped somewhere and has not been identified.

Obviously there are a lot of people missing in Christchurch but if you have any possible leads about his whereabouts, please leave a comment or contact me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/robatherton

For example: http://www.facebook.com/yourname

To change your URL is a simple process, just login to Facebook and go to http://www.facebook.com/username and follow the instructions.

More details can be found in this article: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=90316352130 so please read them before going ahead and changing your URL.

There are slightly different rules with changing URLs on Fan Pages to try to prevent URL squatting. However, if you are planning to use a Fan Page for your business, changing the URL is worth while as it can help with SEO.

Some examples of Fan Pages with a vanity URL:

http://www.facebook.com/ExplorerTravel

http://www.facebook.com/LandscapesOfEngland

However, it is easy enough to prevent this by changing your Facebook privacy settings.

To change this option, go to

Settings
–> Privacy Settings
–> Search

–> then UN-CLICK the box that says ‘Allow indexing’.

I wanted to use a different Friendfeed account but I was having trouble trying to change or remove the feed.

If you want to remove the application, you simply need to go to the link below and click on “Remove Application” which is a little way down on the left (or it was when I did it).

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2795223269