FB users donate $10 million to Nepal earthquake survivors

May 02, 2015 | 03:19 PM | 174 Views
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Just two days after Facebook introduced the Donate button to help people who suffered in the Nepal earthquake, the social networking platform was able to collect over $10 million. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement in an official Facebook post. More than half a million users donated to support the International Medical Corps, a global organisation that is helping with relief efforts in earthquake-stricken Nepal. Facebook will also donate an additional $2 million to help those affected by the large scale destruction caused by earthquake that hit Nepal on 25 April. The earthquake has killed more than 6, 000 people and left 70, 000 homeless. More than 13, 000 have also been injured. Facebook had in October, 2014 also launched a ‘Safety Check’ button which enables users to update their current safety status and location in times of disaster. After the Nepal quake, Facebook activated this for Nepal as well and according to Zuckerberg over 7 million were marked safe via the button. It should be noted though that a lot of people who might not have been part of the epicentre in Nepal did mark themselves as safe on Facebook, so the 7 million number needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Nevertheless it is a useful feature given how important social media has become in times of disaster and even relief efforts.  

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