Casualty call centre: Calls flooded into a casualty bureau in London yesterday from people worried about loved ones caught up in the earthquake.
Forty specially trained volunteers took 249 calls in a few hours after the bureau was set up at a Metropolitan Police training centre in north London.
Commander Ronald McPher- son, who is in charge of the operation, said the volume of calls was among the highest levels they had yet experienced for a mass casualty incident, including the September 11th attacks in the United States.
He said: "Tragically the Met does have lots of experience dealing with massive casualties. I was involved in 9/11.
"Call volume is amongst the highest level that we have ever experienced for a mass casualty incident.
"Since we opened, the lines have been permanently at capacity. We are now at 249 calls. Initially calls were dealt with by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then they were transferred to us from 2.30 p.m. We will stay open until we are satisfied we have done everything we can."
He said staff were taking calls from people from anywhere in the world concerned about relatives or loved ones who are UK nationals.
"We take their details and details of the loved one and put them on a database and as and when we have got information of their safety or otherwise we contact them."
Mr McPherson said he was unable to give details of how many people were on the database, adding: "We know there are a number of casualties. What we don't know is how many are UK nationals."
The centre has been receiving calls about people in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Commander McPherson said there was a willingness to help among the Met volunteers, some of whom had come in on their day off.
It is the first time the Casualty Bureau Appeal Centre has been used since it was opened in October last year.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office inquiry line that relatives and loved ones should use is 020 7008 0000.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is to be questioned in the House of Commons about the "inadequate arrangements" made to keep people informed about their relatives and friends caught up in the earthquake.
Gerald Howarth, Conservative member for Aldershot, said he had received complaints from constituents that they were unable to get through to the telephone hotline number given out by the British foreign office.
"I discovered also that even MPs could not get through to get information on behalf of their constituents. There must be thousands of people throughout the country in this plight." He said the foreign office should have been better prepared.