'Missing' cruise ship woman found alive in Germany

Officials say a German woman who was listed among the missing from the cruise ship grounding off Italy has been located alive in Germany, bringing the number of people still unaccounted for to 21. The Grosseto prefect's office says Gertrud Goergens identified herself to police. Her name was removed from the official list of missing late on Wednesday. Italian authorities released the names of the missing on Wednesday as the search for passengers and crew aboard the Costa Concordia was suspended because the ship shifted slightly from its perch on rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio. So far eleven bodies have been recovered; 21 people remain unaccounted for. 6:30 AM Thursday Jan 19, 2012 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10779696&ref=...

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UN: 2010 among deadliest years for disasters, urges better preparedness

24 January 2011 – 2010 was one of the deadliest years for natural disasters in the past two decades and unless better preparations are put in place now, many more disasters can be expected in years to come, the UN’s top disaster reduction official said today. Some 373 natural disasters claimed the lives of more than 296,800 people last year, affecting nearly 208 million and costing nearly $110 billion, according to annual data compiled by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and supported by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the UN body charged with helping coordinate efforts to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities. “These figures are bad, but could be seen as benign in years to come,” said the head of UNISDR and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Disaster...

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Missing Cruise Ship Passengers Are Named

The names of 27 passengers and crew still missing after the cruise ship disaster off Italy's coast have been released by authorities. Eleven people are confirmed to have died after the vast liner was holed on rocks near the island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast last Friday. The death toll almost doubled on Tuesday after five more bodies were pulled from the stricken Costa Concordia. Authorities have now released details of the people still missing. Some 13 Germans among the 24 passengers still missing are named as: Elisabeth Bauer, Horst Galle, Christina Mathi Ganz, Norbert Josef Ganz, Gertrud Goergens, Gabriele Grube, Egon Hoer, Margarethe Neth, Inge Schall, Siglinde Stumpf, Brunhild Werp, Josef Werp and Margrit Schroeter. Five are Italian and have been named as Dayana Arlotti, William M Arlotti, Maria Dintrono, Maria Grazia Trecarichi, and Luisa Antonia Virzi. Another four are French - Michael M Blemand, Jeanne Gannard, Pierre Gregoire,...

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Facebook group dedicated to finding the missing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/232027703542759/?notif_t=group_activ...

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List of the missing - Costa Concordia

(18 January 2012) - http://www.prefettura.it/grosseto/news/1416158....

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Relatives seek the missing

Many of the families and friends of those who remain missing from the stricken Costa Concordia have joined the search for their loved ones. Some have headed to Italy, feeling they can do more on the ground, while others are resorting to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word and assist in any way they can. The hull of the luxury ship, which was carrying 4,200 people, was ripped open when it hit rocks late on Friday, just hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia for a week-long Mediterranean cruise. Mylene Litzler Mylene Litzler was taken on the cruise as a birthday present Officials have not yet confirmed the names of the dead although bodies have been found. Meanwhile, a list of those missing which was posted on an Italy interior ministry site, is now being circulated online, yet still needs to be updated to reflect reports that at least of one of those missing - a German - has apparently been found safe...

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