Mark yourself ‘safe’ in Facebook following Hurricane Ida. How to find the Safety Check tool

Hurricane Ida struck the Gulf Coast on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane bringing driving rains and flooding, and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana and Mississippi. So far, four people have been found dead in the two states. As of Monday, at least 670 people had been rescued. A new storm, Kate, reached land on Monday, before being downgraded to a tropical depression. If you live in surrounding areas that were affected, a Facebook tool can let your friends and family know you’re safe.

The feature, called Safety Check, is part of the Crisis Response page Facebook developed to help people quickly stay in the know about worldwide disasters. The page can also be used to donate money to the areas affected by these events. 

If you’re in a location that has experienced a hurricane or other crisis, Facebook says a notification should automatically appear when you log in to let your friends know you’re safe. However, if you don’t see a notification, we’ll explain how to find the tool.

How to find and use the Safety Check feature on your phone

1. Open Facebook on your phone and select the menu. 

2. Scroll down and select Community Help. Note that you may need to tap See More to access this page.

3. On the next page, tap Crisis Response and select the affected area. For instance, Hurricane Ida in Southeastern USA.

4. Tap the button at the top of the page that says Tell your friends if you’re in this affected area.

5. Next, you can tap I’m Safe which will notify and share a post with your friends, letting them know you’re OK.

You can also see if your friends are OK by tapping Check on Friends. It’ll take you to a list of friends in that area. If it says “note marked safe yet,” you can tap the Ask If Safe button.

How to find and use the Safety Check feature on your desktop

If you’re using your desktop to look for the Safety Check tool, log in to your Facebook account and search Crisis Response. From here, select the affected area and tap I’m Safe. To check on your friends, tap Safety Check to see who has and hasn’t marked themselves as safe. 

Hurricane Ida was powerful enough to reverse flow of Mississippi River and has cut power to over 1 million people. Here’s how you can keep your home protected during hurricane season.