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11/21/2024 11:33:49 pm

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Paris Terror Attacks: Parisians Use Twitter Hashtag to Offer Shelter, Facebook Activates Safety Feature

Paris Terrorist Attack

(Photo : Getty images/Antoine Antoniol) Survivors are tended to at a cafe after gunfire in the Bataclan concert hall on November 13, 2015 in Paris, France. According to reports, over 150 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings across Paris, including at a soccer game at the Stade de France and a concert at the Bataclan theater.

Paris suffered a major terrorist attack on Friday night, with the police reporting as many as 120 people killed. Multiple locations were targeted during the attacks, and the incident paints a chaotic picture.

In a bid to make social media and the Internet useful during this tragedy, Parisians are using a hashtag on Twitter to signal that they can provide shelter or need a safe place to go. The hashtag #porteouverte (meaning Open Door) has been used by several people on social media, BGR reported.

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While locals open their homes to frightened people including tourists, the hashtag on Twitter has been trending worldwide. This incident has offered a glimpse into the power of humanity in collaboration particularly in times of crisis as this.

According to the Guardian, Poland has announced it will no longer take refugees via an EU programme, in a deeply controversial statement which linked the crisis to the killings in Paris.

Many people are using the hashtag to talk about this, which has pushed down the real helpful tweets. Probably Twitter could look at creating an emergency feature which uses geo-located filters to help people in disaster zones.

Facebook has since activated its Safety Check status tool following the attacks in Paris. The tool helps users in the affected area mark themselves safe. On clicking 'Yes, let my friends know', the tool will send notifications to their Facebook friends. Users outside Paris can also receive notifications about safety of their friends. Check out the Facebook Safety Check tool here.

Google has announced that all international calls made to France using Google Hangouts dialer app are now free. Users can simply open the Hangouts Dialer client on their Android or iOS smartphones, prefix the country code +33 followed by the number. Google also mentioned that charges will not be billed to the account.

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