Facebook activates Safety Check feature in Chennai

Tamil Nadu’s worst and most relentless rainstorm in a 100 years is showing no signs of letting up.

The torrential rain in Chennai, which has been ongoing for almost a month and has claimed nearly 200 lives, shut down large parts of the southern coastal metropolis this week. Many were stranded in their homes, with the army and air force deployed for rescue operations across the city. People are using platforms like Facebook and Twitter to not just let people know they are safe but also to helping connect people get to safer locations.

The website activated its Safety Check feature early, allowing people to mark themselves as “safe” from the floods. This feature is very much useful in a disgusting situation when most other conventional communication lines like telephone networks are down across the affected areas at this time.

Chennai: Two days after Chennai was battered by rainfall, leading to heavy flooding in the city and its suburbs, Facebook’s check-in feature has been activated. And when a user clicks “Yes, let my friends know”, the tool automatically notifies his/her Facebook friends. It has a list of emergency numbers, what Chennai, a crowd-sourced list of the flooded streets in Chennai and a list of relief centres in the city.

Google’s Crisis response page for the Chennai floods can be accessed here. Facebook activates the Safety Check feature, which allows users to mark themselves as safe, after natural disasters, but not bombings or attacks. But, there’s no option to say No. Users can also mark their friends as safe, but the friends who are affected by the disaster have to approve it.