Facebook now launches disaster maps in India

After a global launch in June this year, Facebook is bringing disaster maps in India which will help government and humanitarian organisations in getting crucial citizen data such as their whereabouts and movement in times of crisis situations such as floods or earthquakes.

The social networking giant which tested the product during recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and some markets of Europe has partnered with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and not-for-profit group SEEDS.

Apart from the safety check and community help features, the disaster maps will help organizations address the critical gap in information they face when responding to natural disasters. The maps which will only be available to government and humanitarian organisations rely on the self-shared location data of the users.

Ritesh Mehta, Head of Programs, India, South and Central Asia at Facebook said that in times of disaster, Facebook is a valuable source of information - whether it's letting friends and family know you are safe with Safety Check or using Facebook to raise donations for relief efforts.

 “India is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. Through our work with India's NDMA and the rollout of disaster maps in India, and the disaster information volunteers initiative, we hope we can help communities get the information they need to prepare, respond and recover if disaster strikes,” said by Mehta.

Chaya Nayak, Public Policy Research Manager at Facebook said that so far Facebook has used the product in countries such as Peru, Mexico and some parts of Europe. “Using the maps, we can not only track location trends of the affected population but also see what their movement trend is.” US based Nayak added that even intelligence such as tracing areas which don’t have connectivity and may require help can be figured out through this.

Facebook is also supporting a programme which will establish a network of volunteers to provide real-time, first-hand information on disasters in their local communities. It will be executed by SEEDS, a NGO working on disaster resilience and will be piloted first in two disaster prone states - Assam and Uttarakhand.

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