How To Track Loved Ones After Natural Disasters
There’s no doubt that dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters is something we’re all becoming more accustomed to. This year alone has seen record-breaking hurricanes in Texas and Florida, following on the footsteps of a big tornado season earlier in the year.
In the aftermath of these events, you may find yourself trying to track down information about a loved one who was in the path of the storm. Doing this is easier said than done. If you do find yourself going through this difficult experience, here are the steps you can take to try and make contact as quickly as possible.
The Complicated Scenario
If you’re trying to track down someone you haven’t had much contact with in recent years, finding out if they survived a disaster is going to be very difficult. We all have friends we have fallen out of regular touch with, but we still very much care about their safety and security. However, unless they’re regular users of social media, you can find yourself struggling to find information about whether or not they got through the disaster unscathed.
If you’ve been out of contact for awhile, then you might not be on the list their close friends and family will update to say if something bad has happened. As a result, you’ll need to do your own sleuthing.
- If you have any mutual friends, ask for information or updates on how the person in question is doing.
- Even if your loved one has not updated social media, that doesn’t mean it can’t be useful to you. Go to their Facebook page and click through to a few of their friends’ profiles, then send these friends a message asking if they have seen the person you’re trying to track.
- It’s also a good idea to consult obituary services to see if there are any notifications on your loved one. As you can see from listing found here, these services are frequently updated with news. You’re going to click around hoping not to see the person you’re trying to track, but if you do, then you can contact the family or send your condolences– and there may be some relief in at least having an answer, even if it’s a tragic one.
The Simpler Scenario
If you are in regular contact with the person in question, then you should find it easier to find information about their whereabouts. After awhile, you can presume that no news is good news; they might have been displaced, but at least you haven’t heard any bad news from their friends and family.
First, try all the usual methods for getting in touch with them: phone, text, email. Of course, if someone has been displaced or is in a shelter, then they might not have access to reply. So try not to panic.
Your next step is to contact the shelters nearest to their home, to see if they have any record of the person you’re seeking. This might take awhile; there will be thousands of other people trying to do exactly what you’re doing.
You should also post on social media, using the hashtags that always burst to life when these disasters happen. You can also Tweet directly to the companies who are handling the relief effort; there’s always a chance that they have a list of people who have been helped, and your loved one is on that list.
Eventually, you should be able to track down the information you need, and be reunited with your loved one in due course.