Google will start putting emergency information about fires, floods, and other disasters in relevant search results and Maps locations. It’s calling the feature “SOS Alerts,” and they’ll include info such as news stories, emergency phone numbers, relevant websites, and updates from local officials.

It appears that the alerts will be created and curated by Google staff, rather than automation. But that also means Google’s teams will have to pick and choose which events get SOS Alerts. At this point, Google is already warning that it’s not going to cover everything. “While we can’t guarantee that you’ll see an SOS Alert for every major crisis, we aim to make them available more broadly over time,” the company’s help page reads.

Google may send push alerts out to people in a disaster area

It sounds as though Google could be planning to cover attacks as well, as its help site says that alerts may appear for a “human-caused crisis.” We’ve reached out to Google for clarification.

The feature is largely meant to help out people who are actively looking for information about a disaster. But Google says that in some cases, it may send out push alerts to people in a disaster area directing them to this information, too.

The alerts seem to be Google’s answer to Facebook’s Safety Check feature, which provides this kind of info and lets people check in to tell friends that they’re safe during a disaster. Facebook’s feature has received a pretty mixed response. There’s been controversy over when it gets activated (Facebook has since handed activation over to users, instead of company moderators), and even when it does get activated, the well-intentioned feature can be pretty annoying. In New York, for instance, occasional subway derailments can lead to distant friends and relatives requesting to know if you’re safe — when the reality is, you probably just got annoyed and walked to the next station.

Google avoids that issue by having its feature be informational only (it also doesn’t have a widely used social network to base such a feature around). That may be less useful in some ways, but it sounds like it’ll be more helpful in others by offering addition information to those who want it.