Facebook today announces "Community Help", a follow-up tool to its well-known "Safety Check" mechanism that allows individuals to mark themselves safe during disasters or attacks.

The new function will allow users to organise relief, such as food, shelter, transportation and basic items after a crisis.

"With community help, people can find and give help, and message others directly to connect after a crisis. Posts can be viewed by category and location."

Questions are being raised about how the tool might interact with emergency services and government and not-for-profit agencies.

"There's the risk of double ups of relief efforts, and there's also the risk that those involved may be inundated with requests they cannot fill or vulnerable community members may depend on help that is no longer available," said digital media academic Emma Potter-Hay of the Queensland University of Technology.

"This is obviously not the first time that private companies have become involved with relief efforts.

"We've also seen lots of examples of community members self-organising during recent disasters – see for example Tassie Fires We Can Help Facebook page, the Farmy Army after the Queensland floods, and the Student Volunteer Army after the Christchurch earthquakes. So I think this is Facebook's way of facilitating that self-organising behaviour that we so frequently see."

Responding to questions, a representative for Facebook said they had consulted with "experts and humanitarian relief organisations" but do not specify whether government agencies were included in their planning.

A Facebook representative also said that users will be advised to to always meet in public places and the tool will be limited to over-18s.

"The same community standards that apply to all posts also apply to posts made in Community Help. People also cannot sell items or solicit donations through community help," they said.