India first to join hands with Facebook on disaster response:
Facebook on Thursday (09 November, 2017) introduced new measures, including its ‘Disaster Maps’ feature in the country.
Facebook has partnered with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and a non-profit body, SEEDS in India, to offer tools to these agencies to help them respond more effectively to natural disasters.
‘Disaster Maps’, which was introduced globally in June, uses aggregated, de-identified Facebook data to help organisations address the critical gap in information they often face when responding to natural disasters. Ritesh Mehta, Head of Programmes, India, South and Central Asia at Facebook, said,
Facebook is also holding its first annual Disaster Response Summit in India with NDMA, which will bring together many humanitarian organisations to help train and discuss how technology can be used to devise better responses to natural disasters and subsequent recovery.
Facebook is also holding its first annual Disaster Response Summit in India with NDMA, which will bring together many humanitarian organisations to help train and discuss how technology can be used to devise better responses to natural disasters and subsequent recovery.The summit focused on the best way to leverage social media platforms to “prepare, respond and recover” for, during and after a disaster.
The social networking giant is also supporting the pilot of the ASK-DIV (Aapda Samachar Karyakarta—Disaster Information Volunteers) scheme where a network of trained volunteers provide supplementary information to inform government relief efforts through the Facebook Workplace platform.
The programme, which is being executed by SEEDS, will establish a network of volunteers to provide real-time, first-hand information on disasters in their local communities.
The programme will be piloted in two disaster prone states — Assam and Uttarakhand.