Facebook activates Safety Check after Chile earthquake

Facebook is helping to keep track of who's safe after an 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit Chile, killing eight people and forcing one million to be evacuated from their homes. In the aftermath of the quake Facebook's Safety Check feature has been activated, asking people in the affected region if they are okay.

The Safety Check tool first sends a notification to anyone in the afflicted region and asks "Are you OK?". It also includes information on any friends who are safe or unaccounted for. On receiving an answer it then notifies the user's friends and creates a news story that says they're safe.

Facebook launched the feature in October last year and it was first activated during the Nepal earthquake, in which more than 8,500 people died.

When Facebook's Safety Check launched during the Nepal quake, Mark Zuckerberg explained that it would allow people to easily let everyone know they were okay. "When disasters happen, people need to know their loved ones are safe. It's moments like this that being able to connect really matters," he wrote.

Google also launched Person Finder after the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, which used text messages to let people confirm they were safe during humanitarian or natural disasters. A database of people could then be searched by loved ones.