10-20-07: News reports of sudden increases in wildfire devastation are carried by local, state and nation news.
10-21-07: DCRE Labs begins to activate a FamilyMessages.Org website in response to growing evacuation stories
10-22-07: Preliminary evaluation of "Katrina Code" deemed insufficient for current needs. The :Katrina: Code was written to assist families that were seeking suddenly displaced loved ones in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The codeset was focused primarily on the remote families seeking updates of lost loved ones in the midst of the disaster area. The Southern Wildfire Disaster proved to be nearly the reverse: Loved ones fleeing the disaster area that needed to leave a message for remote family members on how best to stay in touch. Further, given the prlonged efforts, a new need concerning emergency responders' needs to pass on family messages was also recognized as a key requirement.

While the impact on telecommunications isn't as great as in Katrina, the general chaos surrounding a 100,000+ evacuation bears out the need for a central coordination/communication site that is readily available by evacuees and their remote familes alike. As a result, the FamilyMessages.Org staff opted to revamp the :Katrina: code to better accomodate the particular needs of the Southern California Wildfire Disaster.

The initial code was released into production as http://california.familymessages.org with a fresh database at 9:12 PM, 10-22-07.

 About Us: 

The Family Messages web site platform was created by DCRE Labs and a group of volunteers in response to the need for people across the Internet to find families and friends who were missing in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

This release of the code was designed to help those impacted by the Arkansas Tornadoes . For more information, contact DCRE Labs Support.