Haiti - Locating Survivors and Family Members

By John McCormick  

In the wake of any major disaster there are two needs, one is to provide aid to the people involved but a second and also critical need is to help people in and out of the devastated area locate friends and relatives.

Not knowing what happened to friends and loved ones is always a serious cause of stress.

The first place to start for non-Americans is probably the International Red Cross's Haiti disaster page.

http://icrc.org/haiti

which will normally direct you to FamilyLinks.icrc.ogr.

The reason to start with the base site page is in case of any changes to the location of the database.

Move on to
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/WFL_HTI.NSF/DocIndex/locate_eng?opendocument
and begin with The List link (not linked here because the web address could change.)

This site is provided in both English and French versions.

Here you can also Register Yourself for the benefit of people seeking your location or situation and Register Your Relative.

Again, the links are not live here because they could change and it is best to start from the main page.

Clicking on names in The List will generate a contact page.

For Americans thought to be in Haiti at the time of the quake, see the American Embassy page
http://haiti.usembassy.gov/

"Emergency Contact Information During the Crisis
In Haiti, calls regarding the welfare of U.S. citizens can be made to the Embassy's Consular Task Force in Port-au-Prince at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322 or 509-2229-8672. For additional details, click the link above." This includes a link for additional information but the link page was not available when I tried to reach it.

The Embassy of Haiti in the U.S. has a web site

http://www.haiti.org/

and

The Embassy has a dedicated earthquake information page

http://www.haiti.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=131&catid=69

(If this URL doesn't work, go to the main Embassy page and use the link.)

John McCormick is a reporter, /science/medical columnist and finance and social commentator, with 17,000+ bylined stories. Contact John through NewsBlaze.