Facebook is launching a tool that lets users notify friends and family that they are safe during or after natural disasters.
The tool, called 'Safety Check,' will be available worldwide to the social network's 1.32 billion users on computers and mobile devices. This includes the basic "feature" phones many people still use to access Facebook, especially in developing countries.
People already use Facebook to tell people they are OK after earthquakes and other disasters but Facebook says the Safety Check tool will make it easier. It grew out of a disaster message board that Facebook engineers created in 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.