Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti Quake: International Red Cross Website Helps Haitians Find Loved Ones

www.icrc.org/familylinks
Family Links Website
International Committee of the Red Cross
(A server for the URL at the top of the Family Links Website home page, FamilyLinks.icrc.org, was not online at the time this post was written.)

"The aim of the International Committee of the Red Cross FamilyLinks website is to help those separated by conflict or disaster to find information about their loved ones in order to restore contact...."

It's not Just Haiti. The top links on the Family Links Website home page were:

The Red Cross website is for Haitians Trying to Find Their Relatives

There's a notice on the Family Links Website home page:

"The information available on the website may be listed in public places or broadcast on the radio to widen distribution to people without Internet access. All information on this website is provided by relatives of persons being sought or by those who register themselves.
"The ICRC cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the personal data"

In other words, it's okay to distribute information you find there.

Actually, it seems like a really good idea to me.

Where'd I find the Family Links Website?

"Red Cross website helps Haitians trace loved ones"
Reuters (January 14, 2010)

"Hundreds of Haitians at home and abroad are trying to get in touch with each other through a website set up after the devastating earthquake, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

"About 1,360 Haitians, mostly in the United States and Canada, registered on the site, www.icrc.org/familylinks, within hours of it going live, ICRC spokesman Marcal Izard said. Most appeared to be searching for relatives in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

" 'They include 148 Haitians in Haiti who registered, saying they were alive,' Izard told Reuters. 'Social media, including Facebook, have played a huge role by making links to our site.'..."

Shortly after I post this, I'll be putting the Family Links Website URL on Twitter. I'm quite sure others have done the same thing. But maybe someone will see mine, who hadn't seen the others yet.

Red Cross people on the ground in Haiti are taking tracing request from folks in Haiti who can't get on the Internet, according to the article.

The Lemming has another post lined up. It's about Twitter and Haiti. But stick around: it's not all Haiti all the time here. I'll try to get one more post out, after that one.

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