China launched on Sunday what the nation's police called the Emergency Response System (ERS), which is designed to improve the overall effectiveness of authorities in their search for missing children.

The creation of the ERS is the result of a collaboration between the Chinese police and China's Internet companies, China Daily reported.

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The ERS is similar to Amber Alert, a system that is used in the United States for broadcasting information on missing children.

Police officers who are assigned to a particular case first post information on the missing child using an internal system developed by e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The information is then posted Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

According to Chen Shiqu, Deputy Inspector of the Ministry's Criminal Investigation Bureau, the identities of the officers who are working on a case are verified at each level of the system to ensure the veracity of the posted information.

Chen pointed out that China's Emergency Response System aims to simplify complicated police reporting procedures, and enable officers do their jobs more efficiently.

"In the past, the broadcast range of child abduction information was limited, as it was posted only in places where the kids were lost," he said.

"But now it is extended and covers cyberspace, which is a quicker way to find missing children," he added.

Chen Jianfeng, director of the bureau's anti-abduction office, explained that the system helps dispatch information in a more timely and effective manner by specifying the message's broadcast range.

As a gauge of its effectiveness, information posted on the ERS is broadcast within an hour to areas that are 100 kilometers away from the place where a child went missing.

The message's range is then extended to more than 500 kilometers if a child goes missing for more than three hours.

The Weibo account of China's Emergency Response System has already attracted more than 90,900 followers.

Tagschina, China Emergency Response System, Amber Alert