Social networks offer comfort, confusion in Japan quake

epa05261147 An elderly woman holding her pet dog talks on a mobile phone after a second earthquake hit southwestern Japan, in Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, 16 April 2016. The 7.3 magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Japan early 16 April has now left 19 dead and a thousand injured, in a region where a day before another powerful quake claimed ten lives. The latest quake occurred on Kyushu island's western coastal prefecture of Kumamoto, with an epicenter located about 10 kilometers deep. EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

TOKYO: People trapped under buildings that collapsed in Japan’s double earthquakes used social media to chat to friends and keep their spirits up while they awaited rescue, reports said. 

Networking apps like Line and Facebook proved a boon to victims of the powerful quakes that brought down homes, bridges and hillsides – but they were also conduits for racist scaremongering and rumours about escaped zoo animals.