...Can I go put some clothes on now?

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Oh, that box. You'll dream about that box: it'll never leave you. Big and little at the same time; brand-new and ancient - and the bluest blue, ever.

This seems that this is all we talked about at work this morning. Every new person that came in we had asked if they heard what had happened. Even though I don't post on here as much as I would like nowadays my thoughts still came to everyone on here that might be over in England. I remember how concerned everyone here was for us in the United States when 9/11 happened and the concern is being shown again. I'm glad to here that everyone who has checked in so far is ok.

Firebird, Asakura, Ronin, Meridian -- all accounted for.
Cep probably okay.

Who's left on the board?

Still waiting to hear about my cousin, but she might be home in Canada for holidays; family reunion is coming up. Either way, I'm not calling her father; I'd probably catch him just as he's trying to not think about it. Meanwhile, I'll go enjoy time with Rocket.

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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl

oh!

Has anyone heard from Drive She lives North London?

I am trying so hard to remember all our UK friends so I am sorry If I missed anyone.

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

Metaliants not in London, they are in the Black country. (I think)

Meridian,

There are 49 dead at present with more to come out of one of the sites on a positive note (if you can call it that) There are people in hospital alive but still unidentified. I am sure they have logged his details with Casualty Bureau and if it helps this generally is what happens.


When an incident happens we take reports from hospitals and worried friends/family also from people who have treated others. These are all directly inputted onto the system and then a group of people painstakingly work there way through those records if the person has ID then they send an officer around to let them know they are ok. If they dont they try to start the process of identifying them so they can be reunited.

Alas this can take time as you heard first day alone 104,000 calls were taken and unfortunately we do get calls from people wanting travel information etc which prevents worried family members getting through.

The first part after giving your loved ones details is the hardest. The wait. All I can say is the detectives work as fast as they can to get news to family members and good or bad this news is always delivered in person.

I hope this helps in some way and we all wish the process was quicker. The difficult here has been people walked away from the scene and attended hospital so we had to spend time tracking them down also in order that they too can get after care.

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

I am so thankful everyone is alright!

Ste....I'm glad your little naked bum is safe!

Firebird, I can't help but add you to my new list of hero-people. Thank you for all you are doing, and thank you for keeping us updated!

I'll pray for your child's friend and their family Meridian. I don't know why I was thinking back to the school play you told me about attending...was it last Fall? Christmas? You know what I'm talking about. I'll be praying. I'll be praying.

It's times like these I'm actually thankful for the opportunities to touch that the Internet provides us. It's times like these I can't help but realize how many warm fuzzies I've developed for all of you guys. You all rock.

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"Spider sense....tingling."

Fortunately I dont give people the bad news. I really am bad at explaining things when tired.

I take calls, like many others who are trained on teh system, from distressed family members.

After this another group of people try to match all the missing persons with people reporting them as some times we can get 5 or 6 people reporting the same person missing and each of those creates a record.

While this group are trying to match reports we will then add on the lists we get through from various places (hospitals, reception centres etc) all of which had police fficers in taking their details so we can try to make an attempt at lowing the list of missing.

Next a specially trained police officer (known as a family liaison officer) is assigned to each next of kin who has reported someone missing.

These are the people that deliver the good or bad news to the families.

They are only assigned to close family because generally speaking friends tend not to be as anxious and to be honest with other crimes going on this people are inundated with work. Some are still working with families affected by the Tsunami. So as you see its not a short term process.

I am not a hero just a peson trained to take calls and try to help in some little way. The real heros are those police officers, fire fighters, ambulance crews and ordinary everyday people that risked their lives to pull these people out.

As far as helping we have the communities helping us find those who did it. Although we do have sick people still making hoax bomb threats and of course Birmingham was closed down due to a suspect package.

All any of us can do is keep our eyes and ears open and report anything suspicious then maybe we can stop these people hurting anyone else.

Thank you all and Meridian although the first few days are mad (and incredibly frustrating for the families) in collating all the information. Right about now things should be settling so they will be searching very carefully through the lists to try and give people some news.

Alas there are still a few bodies to get out from one of the sites but the are slowly getting at them. In respect of those at hospital unidentified they will use descriptions provided by the families or dentist records etc so they can be reunited.

It should also be noted this was not just londoners in the blasts we had a number of tourists hit too so we have to get details of missing from those other countries.

Hope all this helps and is a bit clearer.

Katse,

I tend not to go to chat rooms but I am sure I left my email around somewhere

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

Cricket,

Generally speaking if you believe a loved one is involved call the number published right away. We will want to know the persons name date of birth address, whether you are next of kin (important as they are the ones contacted with information). We also need to know why you think they were involved ie the always get that train/bus etc. Also what they were wearing and any marks and scars they have.

If involved in the incident yourself, let your family member knew you are safe ask them to cascade that to others. Then either speak with a local member of emergency services to advise them so they can collate that information in case someone somewhere (we have had calls from people who went to school with ??? and have not spoken to them in 15 years!) reports you involved and we then know you are safe, more importantly so the person involved can get counselling and who knows provide evidence to catch the person concerned.

After reporting your loved one If you are next of kin I recommend contacting other family members and asking them to go through you for information. The reason for this is you will be assigned the Family liaison Officer so you will hear things before anyone else does. The only time this differs is if the next of kin is listed as an ex partner or elderly parent wih a medical condition in these cases another close relative will be informed.

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned

Ashke,

Where was your friend going to in London?

Most of it was unaffected the only other thing is to check with her family to see if they have heard from her. If not the family or you may have to ring the number for casualty bureau which is published on the news. +44 (0)870 156 6344 although check locally in case a local number has been published.

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Like the Phoenix I rise from the fire. Beware all who try to tame me, you may get burned