ICRC's webpage to help look for missing relatives in quake

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday set up a special webpage on its family links website to help people to look for their missing family members in the Ya'an earthquake in southwest China.

The latest list of people being sought by their relatives have been published on the webpage. It advises people with information that can clarify the fate of a missing person and those who are looking for a family member to contact the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

The webpage is in both Chinese and English. [http://familylinks.icrc.org/yaan-earthquake/en/Pages/Home.aspx]

Philippe Marc Stoll, ICRC's public relations officer for Asia and the Pacific, told Xinhua that after a second assessment, the ICRC decided that there was a need to help the people to reestablish family links after the quake.

The earthquake destroyed thousands of homes, with the injured being treated in distant hospitals. This has meant hundreds of families have been separated and have lost contact, he said.

He added ICRC was working with the RCSC to collect information about missing people. RCSC volunteers who are visiting relocation centers and hospitals will search for missing people.