About Us: 

The Family Messages web site 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.

Released to the public on August 31, 2005 the site quickly became a key communication component as the Internet community moved to provide information between thousands of people displaced by the storm. During the first five days after the disaster, familymessages.org recorded over 15,000 names of survivors and family with the aid and assistance of volunteers across the Internet. RSS Feeds are provided so that families and loved ones can track the status of individuals and both a Quick Search and Advanced Search functionality allow simple, efficient ways to locate individuals recorded at the site.

In addition to providing a direct interface for all Internet users, familymessages.org is also being used by volunteers at shelters such as the Astrodome and Reliant Center in Houston, Texas to help survivors find and reunite with each other. FamilyMessages.org remains committed to assisting people with communication while more permanent solutions for locator type resources are developed and deployed, including the development of a standard format for data entry at shelters that will allow familymessages.org , NOLA.com and the American Red Cross to update public databases simultaneously. FamilyMessages.Org is working closely with other major survivor database efforts to implement the common interchange system.

FamilyMessages.Org was designed and developed by Dan Chaney and Matt McCoy within 48 hours of Hurricane Katrina's Louisiana landfall. They couldn't have done it without the invaluable assistance of several people. Special thanks to: Alan Guiterrez, Bill Fitler and Jeremy Johnstone and the staff at Yahoo! for providing their time and services to the site. Most importantly, a HUGE thanks to all the volunteers on the ground at the shelters. Their heroic and tireless efforts are the key to the success of all the recovery efforts that are currently underway. There are thousands of people, including the staff and volunteers at DCRE Labs that are grateful beyond words.