Social media now allows people to mark themselves as ‘safe’ if they happen to be in disaster-struck areas, such as an earthquake or cyclone. It lets your loved ones know that you’re fine.

The 7.5-magnitude quake that was centered in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan’s sparsely populated Badakhshan province, which borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China was a talking point on social media from Monday evening.

Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and chief executive of Facebook, Inc was in India when the earthquake took place. He wrote: “We’ve activated Safety Check in response to the earthquake that struck Afghanistan, Pakistan and the surrounding region. The tool is here: https://www.facebook.com/safe…/afghanistanearthquake-oct2015

“If you’re in the affected area you’ll see a notification to mark yourself safe. You can also check on the status of friends and family. I just arrived in India for our Townhall Q&A tomorrow. Many of my colleagues were here when the buildings started shaking, and I was glad that I could connect with them quickly and know they were okay.”

Facebook will send a notification to users who may be affected by a disaster, based on their location. People use this to confirm that they’re safe or report that they’re outside the affected area. On confirmation, Facebook posts it on their timeline and notifies friends.

Abdul Basit Khawaja, a resident of Islamabad, Pakistan works as the Head of Programs at the Human Relief Foundation, a non-profit organisations that provides aid.

He told Gulf News: “In remote and impoverished areas, the death toll has reached 350.... We still have no news from areas that have been completely cut off. The Safety Check just popped up on our Facebook accounts yesterday, after a couple of hours from the earthquake. Certainly, a great feature that helps us know conveniently about the safety of our loved ones. Once technology penetrates further into the country, for people who live in remote areas, this can prove life saving, or at least facilitate immensely in finding missing people.”

Facebook user Tanvir Hussain posted on his timeline: “Glad to hear that my Facebook friends that live few miles away were marked safe for from the Afghanistan earthquake. #SafetyCheck”. Another user Sajia Sahar Miri wrote: “Thanks Facebook. I’m Safe #imsafe #safetycheck”. Many got text messages from Facebook asking for a safety confirmation. A user Uruj Gul Ahmed wrote: “Love that my #TMobile has global roaming in Pakistan. Friends and colleagues in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan - please let us know you’re okay through the #earthquake #safetycheck.”

After the earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011, resulting in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites proved to be the easiest way for survivors to reach out.

Google at that point launched a Japanese-language ‘Google Person Finder’ to serve users in affected areas. It was also used during the 2014 Nepal earthquake, helping track thousands that were affected. The company relaunched the tool for the Afghanistan earthquake. Twitter user @aparnabhumi wrote: “The day when apps and all the digital revolution come handy! #earthquake #personfinder #google”

So social media evolves, as it helps reach out to thousands in their time of need.