djb@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu (David Brightbill) (09/25/89)
The American Red Cross, in addition to it's other disaster relief activities, provides a Disaster Welfare Inquiry (DWI) service. If you are trying to find out the status of a relative who lives in an area effected by HUGO or another storm, you should contact your LOCAL Red Cross office. They will take your information and relay it to Red Cross workers in the effected area. The workers on the scene will atempt to determine the status of your relatives and get the information back to you. DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THE RED CROSS OFFICE IN THE EFFECTED AREA DIRECTLY. They are real busy and will not accept DWI's unless they come from your local office. The actual physical layer communication links may be over a variety of media including land line telco/twx/fax, etc; ham radio (RACES), military radio, local government radio service (LGRS), or by flying dwi's to the area and flying the answers back. In the case of international inquiries, the same system works, except that it is coordinated by the International Association of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies.