On Sept. 15, through a private Web site called LATalk.org, Ruby pleaded for help. She asked whether anyone knew the whereabouts of her three aunts, who were missing since Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana Aug. 29. She wrote that she had already searched through many Web sites established to help people find family and friends.

Several weeks later she wrote: "Does anybody read these things for real? If I just had a phone number or a way to talk to somebody. I need to find my aunts. Please, please help. It's been a month now. HELP, please."

But on Oct. 22, she posted good news. "I found my three aunts," she wrote on LATalk.org. "They are all doing well. I have talked to two of them, have the number to call the third. Thanks for all of your prayers and help. I am so happy and grateful they are still alive. Again, THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

LATalk.org is one of many Web sites designed to help Gulf Coast residents affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Such sites provide mechanisms to find and communicate with missing family members and friends, get news and information about disaster relief and resources, make donations, and apply for government benefits.

The extent of the Internet's role in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita is still unclear. But several disaster and technology experts say the Internet is a more powerful tool than anything else for communicating, sharing information and interacting during disasters. Government agencies, first responders, relief agencies, nonprofit groups and the public all reap benefits from Internet resources.

For example, a nonprofit community technology group based in Houston set up 200 computers in the Astrodome and sent hundreds of volunteers to help thousands of evacuees use the Internet to get relief information and communicate with family and friends through e-mail.

"We're seeing an increase [in the number of people looking for help online]. In fact, if anything, I have a feeling this time that we're starting to fall over each other [in that] there are too many ways to get information, too many possibilities, too many options as opposed to…one authorized place," said Claire Rubin, a Virginia-based emergency management and homeland security researcher and consultant.