Facebook extends its safety check so users can offer help after a disaster

GETTY

Facebook is extending its check-in tool for natural disasters allowing users to offer help

Safety Check, which launched in 2014, is currently used by those close to the epicentre of a crisis to tell their friends and family that they are safe.

Now a new tool called Community Help is being introduced that enables those unaffected to offer help to others.

Related articles

• Facebook users, do NOT open this image, it could hack your PC
• How to see who's looking at YOUR Facebook page

Safety Check has been used in the past in the aftermath of such events as the Paris terror attacks in 2015.

Facebook said the feature will initially be deployed in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia before being rolled out globally.

“With Community Help people can find and give help, and message others directly to connect after a crisis,” Facebook's Naomi Gleit said.

“Posts can be viewed by category and location, making it easier for people to find the help they need.

Facebook's top 10 global athletes of 2015 Sat, December 5, 2015

Express Sport takes a look at Facebook's Year in Review top 10 global athletes of 2015

Play slideshow LatinContent/Getty Images 1 of 11

10. Carlos Tevez: Re-signed for boyhood club Boca Juniors in the summer, a club with a massive following in Argentina

GETTY

Users will be able to offer food, shelter and transportation during a crisis

“We saw the community do this on their own through Groups and posts, like in the aftermath of the flooding in Chennai, India, in December 2015, but we knew we could do more.

“We also talked with experts, humanitarian relief organisations and our own in-the-field research to learn how to make it easier for people to find and give help.”

Original Article