Facebook enables Safe Check-In for Chennaites marooned in floods

Mayhem caused by the cloudburst in Chennai has got the new media incredibly active. Social media enabled a massive reach which indirectly brought quicker and better assistance to the deprived and now Facebook is doing its bit.

The ceaseless downpour in the city of Chennai has caused disruption in the typical life of the residents leaving the city in utter chaos with no power, people stranded around the city, roads flooded and absolute cut-off from food or water supply.

Yesterday, Twitter with these hashtags portrayed humanity in its own way where people opened their homes, volunteered to help and distribute food, medicines and other necessities through tweets making it easier to locate help.

It was Facebook’s turn when on Thursday morning it launched its Safety Check in. Mark Zuckerberg posted about this facility saying, “Safety Check is our way of helping our community during natural disasters and gives you an easy and simple way to say you’re safe and check on all your friends and family in one place.”

This check-ins allows people to mark themselves ‘safe’ in this critical situation and automatically helps to notify about their well-being. People turning to the internet for help, Facebook has taken a step forward by activating this tool allowing you to mark yourself or someone you know who’s safe.

Today we announced the launch of Safety Check on Facebook. Over the last few years there have been many disasters and...