How Hard Is It For These Evacuation Shelters In California To Record The Names Of People.....

[global1]

they are housing as they arrive?

I'm blown away by the amounts of people that they claim are missing in the aftermath of the fires. My understanding is that there are a number of evacuation shelters/centers that displaced residents of the area flocking to.

Really - how hard is it for each shelter to have someone with a computer register these people as they arrive at the shelter? With the technology that we have these days - I am surprised that they rely on message boards and hand written notes to search for the missing.

Isn't the Red Cross or some other aid organization (or police, fire or local hospital, etc) in charge of this function.

In my opinion - there is no excuse in 2018 to have such disorganization when it comes to identifying the people that are seeking shelter or are in shelters.

I would think that the people that come to these shelters would want their next of kin or relatives/friends know that they are safe. Registering all the sheltered should be a priority.

There should be a website ready and waiting for disasters such as this - to be able to handle this task and allow those that are running the shelters to post to. It would seem like something that the State of California should have ready and waiting given the potential for disasters to happen in the State (fires, earthquakes, etc).

[MineralMan]

1. I don't know that they don't do that.

Not everyone went to a shelter, however. Not everyone who survived knows that they're considered missing. I'm not quite ready to start laying blame in this situation.

[Hekate]

6. Yes. During the Thomas Fire we went straight to relatives, in our case only a few miles. ...

Our daughter, with an infant with respiratory problems, took her kids about 150 miles south to other relatives for better air.

If you can, you get the hell away.

[MineralMan]

8. I was in my home town during the Thomas fire,

and watched a hillside and mountain burn across the road from my parents' citrus farm. Their place wasn't at risk for a number of reasons, but they were in the evacuation zone. They stayed. I was in town for another reason, and spent a good deal of time out watching the fire and the constant stream of helicopters dropping retardant. The phone was out and the cell phone tower was shut down, so there wasn't any way to call anyone. But, there was no danger to their farm or to them (or me).

If all we have is news reports, we're often not getting the whole picture, really.

[Hekate]

16. I'm glad you and the folks were okay. I watched that fire move unbelievably fast...

...on the hills just behind Ventura College the night we were evacuated.

And as you and I know, we're not in any forest here.

[MineralMan]

19. Yes. My parents live in Fillmore.

Their farm is across the road from the highest mountain in the area. It burned, and so did the hills across the road. But, there are orchards between the hills and that side of the road, and orchards on the other side of the road. Very unlikely to burn, and the wind was blowing in away from there. Still, the fire was very impressive and more than a little scary.

Oddly enough, a fire started in an outbuilding behind my parent's house due to an electrical short at the same time. A fire truck on the road saw the smoke, and was there before we even knew there was a fire. They put it out quickly and left.

[CountAllVotes]

2. A lot of the victims are elderly/disabled/poor

People like this are so often forgotten!

They also tend to not have cell phones, compters, etc. and often they are on their own because no one cares about them.

The man I've been looking for is 98 years old!

I don't think he "does computers".

Horrifically sad situation at best!

[beachbum bob]

3. Red Cross has their rules and it's not up to them to report who is at the shelters

If you are at a shelter, call some one to let them know.

[dawg day]

4. Is there a Red Cross group for reporting in--

Yes, the "Safe and Well" list, where people can sign in and say they are safe or where they are.


https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php

[underpants]

5. You are assuming they can just plug in and have a computer system going

If there is electricity AND a connection then maybe. If they are running on generator power they may not want to use some of that on a computer.

[global1]

7. Come On People....

I'm not saying that the elderly or the homeless have a computer or make a call. I'm saying some organized entity - that set up the shelter in the first place do the listing of those people that they are housing in their shelter.

Like I said - it could be the Red Cross, the local police or fire department, a local hospital, etc.

When an evacuee presents themself at a shelter - their name should be recorded and placed on a website to allow for their families/friends the ability to look on this website to find out that their friend or relative is alive.

This is not hard to do. We have the technology to accomplish this. This should be a priority.

Look at all the confusion that we have right now. The missing went from 60 to 600 and now a 1000 people. It may be the bulk of these people are alive and well in a shelter - but we don't know that because either the State or the people that are running these shelters have not taken it upon themselves to register these evacuee's as they presented themselves at the shelter.

[Kaleva]

10. A bulk of the people missing may be dead.

[CountAllVotes]

11. That is my fear

I've done what checking I can and neither the man nor his son are showing up. Their address shows as being destroyed. I fear they may be of the same status.

[mulsh]

18. Have you ever experienced a fire storm? I have, things move very quickly. Getting people to safety

is the first priority, when things settle down you can back date paperwork. Even death certs. From what I can see from the bay area there are numerous spontaneous shelters not affiliated with any organization but doing their best to help. I bet the Red Cross and state and county organizations are overwhelmed but trying to get people registered. Add a fairly mobile portion of the population and it makes number counting even more difficult.

This firestorm in Butte County is exponentially larger than the ones I've experienced. But depressingly familiar.

that said,

You raise very good points and I'm sure your focus in on assisting from a distance which I applaud.

[lunatica]

9. If you listen to the news you would know they are using electronics

The hand written billboards are made by people who are looking for their family and friends.

As a matter of fact the people using computer databases are going to the billboards to cross out the names of people who have been found or are known to be dead.

[global1]

14. This Is The First I've Heard This....

thank you for this info. Are you a Californian? Maybe the news we get back East on these fires isn't as comprehensive as what might be broadcast in California.

I just saw a piece on a shelter near Paradise in a Walmart parking lot. The thought occurred to me that even a Corporation - like a Walmart - can send some of their employees in as volunteers to gather this info. Think of the Goodwill that a Corp can generate by doing something like this.

Just a few short questions to gather pertinent info: name, address, any specialized need for medicine or medical care, any pets, next of kin we can notify for you.

We always see Pet Organizations coming into disaster areas to recover pets and house them. Sometimes I wonder if the animals get more attention than some of the people.

But I'm glad to hear from you that there are some databases be generated in all the confusion. Thank you again for the info.

[procon]

12. Many agencies are offering assistance, not just govt, NGOs, charities,

private orgs and just citizens trying to help. Is there statewide rules, guidelines, reporting criteria in place? I don't know. The victims don't know either.

It seems like a task well suited to the communications and organizational capabilities of the National Guard or military.

[MissMillie]

13. one more thought

for any number of reasons, maybe not everyone in a shelter wants to give their name.

[global1]

15. I Can Deal With That....

Don't know why they wouldn't want to give their name - but - at least you can have a category in the database that categorizes the number of people that are alive and did not want to give their name.

[SoCalDem]

17. Lots of older folks probably do not have cellphones

and even if they do, the phones may not be working, or may have been lost in the shuffle.

Many people these days have numbers "saved" in the phones, and do not know family/friends' numbers by memory

Any time there is a major disruption, people do get temporarily "lost"..

Sadly though, many/most? missing are probably dead