Facebook’s VR technology allows Mark Zuckerberg to tour devastated Puerto Rico, while laughing and high fiving colleague

'One of the things that’s really magical about virtual reality is you can get the feeling that you’re really in a place'

Mark Zuckerberg “teleported” a cartoon avatar of himself to disaster-struck Puerto Rico, in order to promote a Facebook product.

The founder of the social network has posted a Facebook Live video showing him and Rachel Franklin, the company’s head of social VR, laughing, high-fiving each other and praising Facebook’s virtual reality platform as they take a look at some of the damage caused by Hurricane Maria.

At one point in the video, Mr Zuckerberg says, “One of the things that’s really magical about virtual reality is you can get the feeling that you’re really in a place.

“Rachel and I aren’t even in the same building in the physical world, but it feels like we’re in the same place and can make eye contact.”

After high-fiving each other, he continues: “We’re looking around and it feels like we’re really here in Puerto Rico. It’s obviously a tough place to get to now and a lot of people are really suffering with the aftermath of the hurricanes.”

Ms Franklin adds, “Crazy to feel like you're in the middle of it.”

The duo were showing off Facebook Spaces, the company’s virtual reality platform, which transforms you into an avatar and lets you interact with other users’ virtual characters in a virtual space.

In this case, Mr Zuckerberg and Ms Franklin, who were actually sat in the comfort of Facebook’s California offices while wearing VR headsets, decided to appear superimposed over a 360-degree video created by NPR.

Around 90 per cent of the population reportedly doesn’t have access to electricity, and around 60 per cent doesn’t have access to clean water.

Facebook is one of the organisations trying to provide relief, having donated $1.5 million and partnered with the Red Cross to help locate people who need help.

Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg asked for forgiveness for his mistakes and said, “I will try to be better.”