Facebook has enabled its Safety Check feature for Brussels in the aftermath of a series of explosions that took place in the city this morning.
The attacks hit the Brussels Zaventem airport and at the Maelbeek metro station, leaving at least 30 dead and 136 injured.
Facebook's Safety Check is a tool that allows people to quickly log into Facebook and report that they are safe and sound, thus reassuring their friends and family.
The feature also allows users to check up on their Facebook friends who are in or near Brussels and see if they marked themselves as safe. Should you have information that your friends or family are out of danger, the feature allows you to report them as safe.
Facebook originally crafted the Safety Check for use in case of natural disasters, such as tsunami wave hits or earthquakes. However, the feature came in handy in November 2015, after the terrorist attacks in Paris shocked the Western world.
"Communication is critical in these moments," Facebook affirms, "both for people there and for their friends and families anxious for news."
After the suicide bombings and mass shootings that took place in the French capital, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the feature will be used in "more human disasters."
His statement came after Facebook went under fire for not enabling the Safety Check feature after terrorists used explosives to cause havoc in Beirut. For context, the Beirut attacks happened only one day prior to the Paris tragedy.
Following up on its promise, Facebook has deployed Safety Check after the terrorist attacks in Turkey and Nigeria that happened months later, and now it enabled the feature for Brussels as well.
The Guardian reports that at the Belgian airport bombings, 14 people lost their lives and 81 were injured, while at the metro station 20 people are dead and 55 suffered injuries.
As a result of the incidents, Brussels has stopped the metro system and the country is now on threat level 4 alert.
"We want [Safety Check] to be available whenever and wherever it can help," declares Alex Schultz, VP of Growth at Facebook.
An alpha variant of the feature was first used after the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
