Zuckerberg donates 500,000 USD to Italy quake relief

(AGI) Rome, Aug 29 - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has donated 500,000 dollars to the Red Cross to help provide aid in areas of Italy recently hit by an earthquake. He told students at LUISS University in Rome on Monday that he had placed his social network "at the disposal of the Red Cross for anything it requires". He went on: "It's truly stimulating to see how people have come together to rebuild in the same places. What's happening in Italy is inspiring people all over the world." Facebook's Safety Check during the quake, he said, "was one of the most effective uses we've seen in the entire world, over 50 percent of the people managed to let their friends know they were alright, because when things like these happen our first concern is to know how the people we care about are doing". Facebook's co-founder said he was "very sad" when he heard of the earthquake. "Our first reaction was to ask ourselves what to do to help. We asked ourselves what Facebook could do and the main thing was our Safety Check, which enables you to tell your friends you're alright whenever a disaster occurs. We wanted to do more, so we started working with the Red Cross. We donated 500,000 dollars and placed Facebook at their disposal for whatever they might need." Another thing that "made an impact" on him, he said, was a restaurant announcing on Facebook that it would donate a euro to the quake relief for every dish of "pasta all'amatriciana" it served. "They invited other restaurants to do the same, and now more than 700 have joined in. It's proof of our service's potential," he said. (AGI). .