How to find out if a friend is OK in a disaster

The recently earthquake in Nepal has hit so close to home with hundreds of Australians said to be in the Himalayan country. Many families are still awaiting news of their loved ones, and Facebook is encouraging its users to use their Safety app, with Google also providing the ‘Person finder’ service.

‘Safety’ by Facebook has just been activated in the wake of the disaster that has killed more than 3,200 people so far. If Facebook identifies that you are in the area affected by the earthquake, it will ask if you are safe. Once confirmed, friends will receive a notification saying they are safe.

There has also been a Facebook group set up called Nepal Earthquake 2015 and it has up-to-date information those who are still missing and any developments.

According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, “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”.

He had the idea to launch the app after the 2011 Japan tsunami and heard that millions of people had no way to know if their loved ones were OK.

Person Finder by Google helps the affected individuals post their safety statuses by using this tool, which acts as a database of missing persons and helps their family members trace them.

It comes with two options–“I’m looking for someone” and “I have information about someone”. You can enter your friend or loved ones’ name into the search engine to see if they are OK.

This is the page for Facebook’s Safety Check page for the Nepal earthquake looks like. If you click on the link it will be able to tell you if your Facebook friend/s are in the affected area and if they are marked as safe.

Tell us today, is anyone you know in Nepal right now? Are they OK? Would you use these apps ASAP if you were in an affected area?