This site contains information about people who are believed to be missing or who perished following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Information on this site has been obtained from the Victim Identification Center in Carville, LA and from the Find Family National Call Center in Baton Rouge.

• Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals – Through its Medical Incident Commander, the Department of Health and Hospitals has been authorized to provide medical oversight to the operations at the Find Family National Call Center and the Victim Identification Center.
• Louisiana Family Assistance Center – The Louisiana Family Assistance Center (1-866-326-9393), based in Baton Rouge, assists people who have a family member missing or who believe a family member may have perished during hurricanes Katrina or Rita. The Assistance Center is staffed by professionals experienced in forensic medicine, mental health, pathology and Internet technology.
• Victim Identification Center – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has opened a Victim Identification Center in Carville, LA. The center is a 32-acre site that is designed to process, identify, store and release human remains found following the hurricanes. The center replaces a temporary facility that had been operating in St. Gabriel for almost three months.
• Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team – The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team is a component of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), which is a section of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA. There are 10 teams around the country. The DMORT in Louisiana is made up of professionals (doctors, dentists, forensic scientists, police officers, medical examiners, funeral home directors, medical investigators and other technical specialists) from all across America who volunteer to make themselves available to assist the nation in the event of a mass fatality incident that overwhelms local and state resources.
• Funeral Assistance – The most tragic disaster-related loss imaginable is the loss of a loved one. FEMA provides Funeral Assistance help with the cost of unexpected and uninsured expenses associated with the death of an immediate family member when attributed to an event that is declared to be a major disaster or emergency.
• Identifying Disinterred Remains – FEMA’s Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams assist in locating and recovering human remains displaced by floodwaters. DMORT estimates 90 percent of these remains have been recovered.

Click for message from Dr. Cataldie, Louisiana State Medical Examiner