As with all breaking news today, social tools like Twitter are showing their strength in getting the breaking news out there about the awful events in Japan. Just as everyone else is, I am glue to Twitter right now to see what’s happening, but reports are coming in via many other means.

One of those is Audioboo, which has long had a page of the latest “boos” streaming in from users. Here’s three from Tristan Mathers in Japan just 30 minutes ago who details how phone services are going down and confusion has engulfed the area.

The Boo Map, which puts recording on a Google Map, also comes in handy at times like these.

Interestingly, since Audioboo is set up for voice reporting, Soundcloud, by contrast, is just not set up for breaking news events, being far more concentrated on music. Their list of ‘latest’ recordings is several clicks deep and full of music.

This is despite their latest focus being on live recording from smartphones.