By Gary Chapman
CYPRUS TODAY
August 21 - 27, 1999.
ISSUE No. 401
A SMALL, neat office
suite on the second floor of a Girne office block this week became a
headline making mini nerve-centre for scores of distressed people throughout
the world trying to contact "missing" friends and relatives
in Turkey's earthquake areas.
The efforts of
the enterprising family running the Internet Education Centre (IEC)
made BBC Radio 4 news, also broadcast on the BFBS station on Thursday,
and found it's way on the "front page" of the BBC's electronic
"newspaper".
A special message-and-contact
computer program, called ICQ, has been helping Terry Thomas, his Turkish
Cypriot wife Fatma, and two teenaged children to end the anxiety of
many distraught Internet e-mail inquirers from countries as far a field
as the US, Australia, Thailand, Venezuela, Britain and Germany, by making
contact with loved-ones while land 'phone lines have been plunged into
chaos.
By yesterday afternoon
more than 200 inquiries had been made with the IEC. Of those feared
"lost" 161 people had been confirmed alive, with three dead,
and the rest were still being "tracked" by the bilingual family,
whose pioneering e-mail service was advertised on BBC News Online, the
computer information page used by the corporation.
The family were
planning to work late into the night yesterday for their third day running,
trying their best, through a network of contacts in Turkey, to send
news as swiftly as possible to concerned friends and relatives abroad.
Their mission of
mercy - with no charges to any inquirers and originally totally unplanned
- brought praise from senior BBC producer Joanna Ross on Thursday and
has prompted the centre to establish <quakehelp@iecnc.org>
for anyone wishing to e-mail them (or within the TRNC, first telephoning
them on 815 905) for assistance as the toll of victims continues to
soar.
David Thomas, set
to study medicine at Marmara University, Istanbul, said: "We train
many people at our Internet Education Centre but even I didn't imagine
it (the 'net') could help so many people."
A network of willing
e-mail "sleuths" in Turkey - one a retired serviceman now
studying law - was established in just two days for rapid-response replies
to far-away inquirers.
The "quakehelp"
contact idea emerged only on Tuesday when the Thomases managed to contact
a relative's mother, sister and close friend - all unhurt.
They then decided
to extend their services to others and found themselves the first Internet
"operation" to pledge help via the BBC News Online service
on Tuesday, when the Thomases' e-mail code was logged on.
From then, inquiries
snowballed in preference to other e-mail "SOS groups", probably
because of their proximity to the Turkish mainland, the family's already
existing contacts and their ability to overcome the language barrier.
David and his sister,
with four of the centre's computers and much professional equipment
at their fingertips, quickly developed a message response, tracking
and reply system.
The speed in gathering
and relaying information has surprised many of their inquirers throughout
the world, often thanks to their main ICQ tracking program contacts
in Turkey, including Abdullah Midyatli, Umur Baykal, Nil Kayalar, Alp
Hamzagil and Ceyda Arac.
David said: "We
didn't think there would be people on line in Istanbul because the power
was down, but we found people using laptop (battery-powered) computers
and mobile 'phones.
"The original
mother we were seeking was found, via a contact within one hour. It
was a very good feeling - then we thought, let's do it for others as
well."
On Wednesday the
family, who canceled all Internet lessons during the crisis and have
had their home phone rerouted to the office, were at the centre until
midnight on back-up power during an electricity cut.
"A lot of
messages we have are very sad and there have been a few tears among
us," said Mrs. Thomas.
David told of the
first contact which led to the family offering its services through
the BBC.
"We contacted
a relative on Tuesday whose mother, sister and close friend live in
Istanbul. He had been unable to get any news, and, although the full
extent of the earthquake was not known at the time, he feared the worst.
"Using the
ICQ programme we found some people on line in Istanbul using laptops
and mobile 'phones. These were all that were working at the time. The
mother's 'phone number was given to them and, about an hour later, one
of our contacts in the city was able to find her to learn that the others
were okay.
"We then thought
we could offer a service like this to other people in the world so we
posted a message on the BBC's (Internet) site with our contact information.
"As a result
on Tuesday afternoon messages began arriving, we presume via the BBC.
We successfully located six more people safe in Istanbul. On Wednesday
we began receiving more messages and had a total of 27 people to look
for - 25 of these were located unharmed."
On Thursday morning,
the family arrived to discover 24 more requests, and dealt with most
fairly swiftly.
In fact one desperate
e-mail inquirer, on being given a "tracking" update, wrote
back: "Jesus Christ, I cannot believe you answered already. I am
beginning to believe in God."
David said: "We
have been going home late feeling proud of what we are doing, but it
is a nerve-wracking experience."
Yesterday morning
42 additional inquiries faced them ... and so it goes on hour after
hour with an operation which prompted the BBC's Talking Point
producer, Ms Ross to comment: "We are so glad you have been able
to put so many people in touch."
THE Internet Education
Centre is in the Cyprus Today office block at Girne behind the Vakiflar
Bank at Vakiflar Ishani, C Blok, Kat 1, No. 13. E-mail: quakehelp@iecnc.org.
Tel: 815 8905 Fax: 815 8904. ICQ: 16036578.