I’m on call for the Red Cross this week. I just got off the phone for the SIXTH time tonight, so let me fill y’all in on something that you can maybe pass on to people you know who can’t reach family down there:
We don’t have magic telephones, we don’t know where your parents are and, quite frankly, by the time we get the notification down there chances are they’ll have called you already. So here’s what we’re going to tell you if you call us:
Phone service can be spotty and intermittent, depending on the volume of calls into the disaster area. Try calling at 2 a.m.
If the person you’re looking for has an email address, try that. They could be evacuated to an area that has crappy phone service, but cable internet is still up and running.
Call/email other friends and relatives of the missing people.
Call/email neighbors, employers (particularly larger companies), co-workers, schools, or places of worship. If the missing people were tourists and staying in a hotel, call that hotel’s corporate headquarters.
Also try contacting the following, if you know that person was associated with them: senior citizen center, social club, union, fraternal organization, etc., may know the person’s whereabouts.
Call the Red Cross only if the missing person is frail or ill, and they’ll let emergency personnel know.
And for the love of Og: Get a plan, will ya? Everyone reading this post is subject to a disaster of one sort or another. Having a communications plan in place BEFORE everything falls apart lessens the anxiety for everyone all around.
Very true–there was a woman on LiveJournal this morning looking for temporary housing in Atlanta; she’s currently taking shelter in Baton Rouge and said phone service there was pretty much out, but she’s still able to get email.
I didn’t say this earlier, but my friend’s e-mail said he feared his father was dead. I saw some footage from the area this morning, and it looks as if anyone who stayed stands a very small chance of being found alive.
I e-mailed him again to let him know that I have a spare room in the house. I’m over 2,800 miles away, and I doubt his mom would want to come here. (He’s not to keen on the cool PNW weather himself.) But the room’s here if he needs it.
The Red Cross is now accepting inquiries for anyone still stranded by the hurricane, regardless of physical or mental health. It’s requested that you call your local chapter rather than the 866-GET-INFO line as the call reps there are … overwhelmed.
HOWEVER.
Please, please, please - before you start calling:
Check out this site. It has a horrible, HORRIBLE interface, but everyone evacuated to a shelter is supposed to be on it, and many who self-evacuated have put themselves on that list.