Victims of disasters will soon have a new tool to connect with resources in their communities. Facebook’s Community Help is a new feature for its existing Safety Check function (letting survivors advise loved ones as to their status.) “Hopefully there are far fewer crises in 2017 than there have been in the past,” Preethi Chethan, product designer at Facebook, told The Telegraph. “But if something does happen, we hope this product can help make a difference in people’s lives.”
Community Help is rolling out in six countries, including the U.S, with a global expansion after a testing phase. The initial phase will only be active during natural disaster for a 60 day period. To avoid exploitation of the system, Facebook told The Telegraph that it has checks to disregard new accounts, bots or those under 18, but “it’s on the user to protect themselves.”
