Facebook has come up with a new feature as disaster maps which would help organisations to address the critical gap in data and information which they generally face while responding to natural disasters.
Three kind of Maps can be used while disaster
Facebook proffers three kinds of maps for disaster periods including location density maps, safety check maps and movement maps. These are based on the aggregated location information which was chosen by the users to share with the Facebook.
Map will help response organizations
Molly Jackman, Public Policy Research Manager at Facebook, explained in a blog post that, “We can help response organisations paint a more complete picture of where affected people are located to determine where resources like food, water and medical supplies are needed and where people are out of harm’s way”.
What is Location Density Maps
Location density maps will display at which places people are located before, after and amid of disaster to help response organization to figure out the areas affected by the disaster.
What is Movement Maps
Movement maps show the patterns according to movement between various neighborhoods or cities in a period of several hours that will allow responders to track the position of resources.
What is Safety Check Maps
Safety Check maps work with where the community uses the safety Check feature to inform the friends as well as family that they are safe during disaster.
Information will be shared with trusted organisation for response
Fcebook affirms that the information will be shared with the trusted organization that can act on the data and can follow or respect the privacy standards. It starts with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Food Programme called UNICEF.
More organization will be added
Jackman stated that, “Over time, we intend to make it possible for additional organizations and governments to participate in this program. All applications will be reviewed carefully by people at Facebook, including those with local expertise”.