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New Facebook apps support personal preparedness for emergencies

Project: Lifeline and bReddi allow users to identify lifelines, Facebook friends user can count on in emergencies

WASHINGTON — The two winning apps in HHS’s ASPR-issued Facebook Lifeline Application Challenge for free preparedness applications went live on Facebook last week.

Project: Lifeline and bReddi allow users to identify lifelines, create and share personal preparedness plans and track the status of their Facebook friends in disaster-affected areas.


Project: Lifeline and bReddi allow users to identify lifelines, create and share personal preparedness plans and track the status of their Facebook friends in disaster-affected areas. (Photo ASPR)

They can both help families and friends to plan more easily, be better prepared when a disaster strikes and more reliably and efficiently communicate about each other’s health and safety.

The apps also allow users to print cards with a snapshots of their preparedness plans to carry in their wallets as quick references about what to do when a disaster strikes.

“The question is, who can you count on in an emergency and who can count on you?” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, assistant HHS secretary for preparedness and response and a rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service.

“We know that people who have friends or relatives they can rely on for help are healthier and live longer than those who don’t, and that every disaster has the potential to impact health, so having people you can depend on for help is especially important during a disaster. That’s why we are encouraging everyone to identify their lifelines in advance.”

The Facebook challenge called on software application developers, entrepreneurs, social networking enthusiasts, members of the public health and emergency response communities to design new Facebook applications that would support individual and community resilience during disasters.