Broken Windows is volunteering down in Houston and writes of the difficulties the evacuees are experiencing in attempting to reunite themselves with loved ones:
It is also difficult because tens of thousands of evacuees are staying at the hundreds of smaller shelters around Houston (and elsewhere) run by churches and assisted by the Red Cross. None of the people staying at these shelters are in the family databases yet, so evacuees are still “unknown.” They have been registered with the Red Cross, but under privacy law those registrations are considered health records so they can’t be publicly searched. The “family messages” program is a “sign-up” deal, not a “registration,” and I guess that semantic difference is enough to make the records searchable.
Through the “family messages” program we are able to make searchable cards for survivors and the missing family members the survivors are looking for. The cards have comments fields which is particularly helpful. These shelters are immense. More than once the past couple of days family members who were staying at the same shelter were only able to find each other through the database. They had no idea they were at the same place because it’s impossible to link up in such a chaotic, massive complex. We can write in the comments section where evacuees are — by row and cot location — to make it easier to physically find them after a match has been made.
Oh, good grief. What a calamity. Now watch them introduce the “chip” just to push their point home about organization and being able to keep tabs on everybody. Next thing you know, everyone will be wearing a dog tag on a collar with a bar code on it.
Say “moo.”