Red Cross Reconnecting Families Separated By Disaster

Written by Cynthia Long Managing Editor, Redcross.org

January 15, 2001 — As news of a major disaster spreads across the world's airwaves, those who have friends and family in the affected area are gripped by one urgent question: Are my loved ones all right? But with downed communications systems and the general chaos surrounding a disaster, it is often impossible to reach the affected area to get information about the well-being of community members. However, it is exactly that type of information that the American Red Cross Family Linking Service is dedicated to providing.

In the early stages of a disaster such as the killer earthquake that jolted El Salvador on Saturday (Jan. 13), the priority is search and rescue. "We realize that questions concerning family and friends are vitally important, but in the first 72 hours of a disaster all efforts must be directed toward search and rescue of people buried beneath debris," said Marcie Friedman of American Red Cross International Social Services, who manages the Family Linking program. "We know that people don't want to wait two minutes for news of their loved ones, much less two days, but that's unfortunately a big part of the tragedy of the disaster."

After the emergency phase of search and rescue, the linking services are put into action. According to Friedman, the focus of the linking team is twofold: the first is meeting internal needs, helping people from one small village in the affected country find a lost family member from another small village, for example. Or helping a mother find her children if they become separated during the chaotic evacuation of a community. To do this requires a close partnership with the local Red Cross society, helping the local group fine-tune its own tracing skills. The second focus is to help people back in the United States locate family members and to find ways for people in the U.S. to help, by volunteering to answer questions over the phone, in English and in Spanish, for example. Often simply answering questions and listening to people's stories is enough to put minds at ease until the actual tracing can be performed. "The American Red Cross is committed to both efforts," said Friedman.

To kick start the linking services and help family members find one another more quickly, the American Red Cross sends staff to affected countries about two or three days after a disaster, when the emergency search and rescue efforts are winding down. On Tuesday (Jan. 16), two American Red Cross family linking experts will arrive in San Salvador. Aida Martinelli, director of Diversity and International Services at the Greater Miami and the Keys Chapter, and Alberto Santisteban, director of Emergency Services at the Central Texas Chapter in Austin will work with a team of about 15 or 20 local volunteers to help bring families back together.

Both have a wealth of experience-Martinelli has performed family linking services in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic and is the head of Family Linking On Call (FLOC) for Latin America. Santisteban performed family linking services in Turkey and Venezuela and worked extensively in Central America. Both are bilingual.

The priorities of the team will be to help the El Salvador Red Cross become more operational with linking and help provide information about relatives to their loved ones back in the U.S. The team is equipped with a database developed by the American Red Cross, available in both Spanish and English, and will assess the best way to collect tracing information. Information can be gathered in a number of ways - with laptops, satellite phones, even notebook and pencil. They may also set up an 800 number for people to call about lost loved ones, or compile lists of casualties and those who are hospitalized. While some encourage posting such lists to a Web site, the Red Cross recognizes that many people are not hooked up to the Internet.

When people are making inquiries about loved ones at their local chapters (which are forwarded to the team in-country), Friedman said it is very important to provide as much detail as possible, information that should ideally be gathered before the call is made. She recommends providing a phone number, alternate contacts, accompanying family members, the full name as used in-country, parents' names, physical description including age, and a full description of where the person lived. "If you can, tell our linking staff that the person lived in a house on a hill behind the school next to the butcher. The more detail the better." These inquiries are eventually forwarded to the team in the affected area.

Those who look for lost loved ones in the disaster zone act as detectives, Friedman said. They scour lists of people in the hospital or in shelters, they use census information, military information or school information. They also try to identify an institution that is the heart and soul of a community--often it's a church, or maybe it's a school, even a restaurant--where all the villagers gather frequently. They also try to find the community leaders, the heads of a local church or the mayor. The community leaders usually know everybody and have a good sense of their whereabouts and well-being.

"The need to know about lost loved ones is just as strong as the need for shelter and food and medical care," said Friedman. "If people are not reconnected in the early stages of a disaster, the case can go on for 50 years or more, which we saw with people separated during World War II. You never give up the need to know."

The people who work with Friedman on family tracing understand this desire, and she said they are extremely dedicated to their work, considering it as something of a calling. "It's a very personal experience. This is one of the Red Cross services that attaches a human face to our organization."

The family linking team is part of a six member American Red Cross International Response Team working in El Salvador. In addition to providing relief services on the ground, the American Red Cross has committed $100,000 to the relief effort and will be providing supplies, such as blankets, water cans, hygiene kits and plastic sheeting.