In China, High-Tech Reunions

Internet, Hotlines Help Earthquake Survivors Find Relatives

CHENGDU, China -- Not long ago, students from four devastated schools at the epicenter of last month's earthquake were evacuated to a leafy corner of Chengdu's Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, many of them separated from their families by the chaos.

They lined up in quiet rows upon arrival, their clothes covered with debris and faces black with dust, a university professor recalled. In one group, the youngest was only 4 years old.

Today, about 900 young survivors study at a temporary school set up at the university. About 10 have not yet found any relatives. Others, though, have either had emotional reunions or discovered that one or both parents have died.

In less than three weeks, the vast majority of the estimated 8,000 students who escaped collapsed classrooms have been reunited with parents or relatives, in part thanks to Web sites, hotlines and the work of scores of volunteers.

In some cases, parents simply called their children's teachers, who often knew who had survived and who hadn't, said Zeng Daorong, an assistant principal and economics professor at the university.

"We set up four meeting rooms here, and the scenes were so touching. The families hugged each other and cried, and later they laughed," Zeng said. "But some grandparents came and told students that their mother or father had died, and the students would suddenly cry out. I have a 14-year-old daughter. Before the earthquake, I seldom had tears. But after this, I can cry every night."

As of Thursday, 1,200 children remained separated from their families, including several hundred who had lost both parents, according to Ye Lu, director of the social welfare division of Sichuan's civil affairs office.

For those who have been reunited, however, technology has proved to be a boon.

On May 14, more than 140 patients, mostly children with broken arms and legs, were airlifted to Chengdu's Huaxi Hospital, one of the largest in the region. Immediately afterward, the hospital was flooded with several hundred family members looking for relatives.

"Because they were brought by helicopter, most patients had been separated from their families. Since they were searching, and since we had more people coming here to look for relatives than we had patients, we decided to publish a patient list online," said Liao Zhilin, the hospital's director of propaganda.

Unlike in the United States, where privacy concerns might slow the process, volunteers photographed many of the patients and posted the images online. The hospital shared patient information with the volunteers, including arrival times and home addresses.

"Many other Web sites linked to our Web site. More than 95 percent of the 2,700 patients who have come through here were reunited with their families," Liao said.