Global Missing
(News)
World
Trade Center's Missing
Hotline
for families of Military Personnel Missing in the Pentagon Attack
Missing
in Nigeria
List
of more than 8,300 Missing, deceased from India Earthquake
Kosovo's
Separated and Missing
Search
for Missing Continues After Deadly Georgia Tornadoes
Missing
in Nigeria
January
30, 2002
Aid workers
say that more than 1,000 people are still missing in Lagos, Nigeria, three
days after shells, bombs and rockets rained down over the city. Most of
the missing are young children between the ages of four and 11. It is feared
that the death toll - now at 600 - may rise.
The Nigerian
Red Cross has opened a center to reunite people who were separated from
their loved
ones as they
fled the explosions. So far 500 people - the majority of them children
- have been
registered
as missing, according to a Jan. 29 report from the International Federation
of Red Cross
and Red Crescent
Societies.
Many residents
fled in darkness to escape the bombs shooting from an arms depot that caught
fire
Sunday night
(Jan. 27), but slipped down a muddy embankment into a canal. Hundreds were
drowned or
crushed under the weight of the crowd -- most of them women, small children
and
babies, the
Federation reported. Area newspapers have reported that the death toll
could rise as high
as 2,000.
"We still don't
have exact numbers for dead, wounded and missing but we are concentrating
on
providing
emergency assistance to survivors," said Patrick Bawa, a spokesperson for
the Nigerian
Red Cross.
In addition to the dead and missing, the disaster left as many as 15,000
people
homeless after
the barracks near the depot were damaged by the blasts, according to the
Federation.
Rest of article here.
More
Than 8,300 Missing, deceased from India Earthquake
WASHINGTON,
April 26, 2001
As part of
the ongoing disaster relief effort to help victims of the January 26 earthquake
that hit the Gujarat region of India, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) is publishing a list of the dead and missing compiled
by KutchMitra, a Gujarati daily newspaper. The information will provide
Gujarati people worldwide with a link to important information on the fate
of loved ones in the quake-affected area.
An initial
list of 8,373 names of persons who lost their lives during earthquake in
India is currently
available
on the ICRC "Family News Network" website
KutchMitra has been compiling the list by stationing representatives who
have been collecting information in quake affected communities. This initial
list is not exhaustive and provides information on deceased found in Kutch
District only. New names are added daily to the list in KutchMitra. The
web site will be continually updated with additional names.
The ICRC is
only publishing the list on its website but is not in a position to confirm
the validity of
the information
contained in the KutchMitra list. The ICRC will not take responsibility
for any
possible error
and/or omission found on the list. As this list is not based on ICRC information,
specific inquiries
about the list should be sent to the following address:
Collector &
District Magistrate
"For The Special
Attention Of The Earthquake Control Room"
Kutch District,
Bhuj, Gujarat, 370001 India
People who
are seeking information about loved ones should immediately contact their
local
American Red
Cross chapter or to visit the Web site. Rest of article here.
Kosovo's
Separated and Missing
Washington,
D.C., April 11, 2001
When 1998's
Kosovo crisis faded from the headlines and refugees began returning to
their homes in Kosovo, questions remained about the people missing in the
wake of the conflict. Thousands of people vanished during the fighting,
gone without a trace, their families suffering unbearable emotional pain.
Helping families reconnect was then, and remains a priority for the Red
Cross. Led by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Red
Cross societies around the world have been helping families separated by
the crisis reconnect or learn the fate of loved ones missing since January
1998. Released this month, the second edition of The Book of the Missing
for Kosovo, lists 3,525 names in an effort to find answers and reach closure.
The names are also published on a special
web site.
Rest of article
here.
Hotline
for families of Military Personnel Missing in the Pentagon Attack
Washington,
DC, September 12, 2001
The American
Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES) has established a special
toll free number for families of military and civilian workers affected
by the terrorist attack on the Pentagon in Washington, DC. Employees and
volunteers will staff this AFES Hotline 24 hours a day to help families
of the military and civilians with their needs as a result of this tragedy.
The toll free number is (800) 888-6967.
More than 100
Red Cross AFES Stations worldwide are helping families of those harmed
in these
tragedies.
Immediately after the terrorists attack on the Pentagon yesterday, the
American Red Cross
station at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, helped mobilize the emergency
medical response
team. Red Cross volunteers worked in the ER until late in the evening helping
the
staff.
Army family
support centers also will be established at Walter Reed Medical Center.
AFES is
prepared to
offer families of the military and DOD civilians a wide-range of emergency
services. AFES
is in constant
contact with the Department of Defense and military leadership, and is
ready to
respond with
needed services including mental health consultation, emergency travel,
and funeral
assistance.
"Two active
duty members of the military that were visiting Walter Reed Medical Center
were trained
as volunteers
to help in the ER," said Barbara Green, Red Cross Station manager. "They
were a
God-send for
us." Rest of article here.
World
Trade Center's Missing
New York
City, September 18, 2001
Jeanine Nardone
will not give up until she finds her big brother, Mario. Every day, she
turns her baseball cap so the visor is in the back and hangs a photo of
Mario from it. She returns to the Family Assistance Center, where family
members come to file missing person reports and review the list of missing
and dead. Each time she waits in line to scour the list -- even though
it has not changed since being posted the day after the World Trade Center
collapsed, killing potentially more than 5,000 people. She shares her story
and photos of her brother with media camped out on a corner across from
the center. She wants to get the word out in case someone has seen him
alive.
She also hands
out "missing" flyers with photos of Mario. Although the photos are fuzzy,
you can tell he has a nice wide smile with white teeth and kind brown eyes.
The carefully typed words on the flyer read : "Mario Nardone, Last seen
on the 84th floor at 9 am in 2 WTC. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Please call." As she rushes from place to place -- unable to stay still
since the tragedy --Jeanine is followed by a squadron of family members.
It's hard to believe from observing her nervous energy but her husband
Dominique says that she is actually beginning to show signs of wearing
down.
After witnessing
the damage of the first tower from his office building two doors away,
Dominique immediately called his brother in law. Mario told Dominique that
the plane had hit the other tower. Dominique was the last one to hear Mario's
voice on Tuesday morning. Dominique called Jeanine and the rest of the
family to let them know Mario was all right. Then another plane hit the
second tower. When the family tried calling Mario again, there was no answer.
"We know he's
alive," says Jeanine. "He's a survivor, and we're not going to give up
on him because he wouldn't give up on us."
Although only
five people have been pulled alive from the rubble, Jeanine is among thousands
of family members still hoping against all odds that their loved ones somehow
survived the collapse of the World Trade Center. "People return over and
over again to look at the list without finding their loved ones and they
are not willing to give up hope. Some won't even submit DNA evidence because
that's giving in," says Carol Graham, an American Red Cross disaster mental
health volunteer from Rochester, New York.
Graham adds
that one family spent an hour looking over the list, which is in alphabetical
order. Others may come back two or more times a day. Police officers, firefighters,
men, women and children wait in the line leading to the lists.
Thousands of
homemade missing person flyers have been taped to the family assistance
building, mailboxes, media trucks, business fronts and telephone booths
along New York's sidewalks. Roses and candles are placed around them. While
it is a place of mourning, and tears do sometimes fill eyes, many people
maintain an air of determination inside the Family Assistance Center. They
are not yet ready to grieve.
"Most people
are in the hope stage because the rescue efforts are still going on," says
Madeline Fernandez, a Red Cross mental health volunteer from New Jersey.
"Some are coming to terms and just want to recover their loved one's body.
Others are still in a daze. You can see it in their faces. They look lost."
American Red
Cross mental and spiritual health counselors are scattered throughout the
center, keeping watchful eyes on the emotional reactions of those around
them. Those who don't find a name and draw the conclusion that their loved
one is dead may grow hysterical. When someone breaks down, Red Cross counselors
lead family members to a private room where they can talk about their loss
or pray.
Rest of article
here.
Missing,
believed dead, the last 158.
Search
for Missing Continues after deadly Georgia Tornadoes
15th Feb
2000
After deadly
tornadoes swept across southwestern Georgia Monday morning, the small town
of Camilla in rural Mitchell County was transformed into a "war zone" according
to dazed witnesses. At least 19 people have died, dozens are injured, and
homes have been flattened across the region. Rescue workers continue to
search through the debris for those still missing.
Georgia Gov.
Roy Barnes declared a state of emergency in Colquitt, Tift, Mitchell, and
Grady counties. Mitchell County was hit hardest by the storms, where at
least 12 people were killed. "It looks like a bomb went off," said Liz
McQueen, an American Red Cross representative working in Camilla. "It hit
the impoverished and the affluent."
At least two
tornadoes--40 minutes apart--struck just after midnight as most of Camilla's
5,500 residents slept. Six deaths were also reported in Grady County and
one in Colquitt County.
The National
Weather Service said the stronger tornado to hit Camilla had winds of 155
mph or more, an F3 on the Fujita scale. The highest rating on the scale
of tornado strength created by Tetsuya Fujita, a pioneer in tornado research,
is an F5 with winds of 261 mph to 318 mph.
Rescue efforts
were carried out Monday in and around Camilla, where some people were feared
trapped under fallen debris. About 200 homes were destroyed, 90 percent
of them in a mobile home housing development.
The tornadoes
were part of a line of severe thunderstorms that traveled across the eastern
United States Sunday and into Monday. Strong winds swept through Mississippi,
Tennessee, and Arkansas,
where at least
six homes were destroyed and two people were injured. In Alabama, an apparent
tornado hit south of Montgomery County.Tornadoes also tore through the
northern Florida Panhandle sunday night, destroying five homes and damaging
30 others in Bay County. There were no reports of deaths or injuries in
Florida. Rest of article here.
