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In late December 2004 Alex Webley was interviewed by an AAP journalist. The following article appeared in various newspapers and news websites:

Use Net to search for tsunami victims
16:53 AEDT Thu Dec 30 2004

Frantic relatives trying to contact loved ones missing in the Asian tsunami disaster are urged to make contact via the internet rather than phoning overstretched hospitals and police.

Alex Webley, whose Gold Coast business specialises in finding missing persons, said using official channels was often not the most effective way of finding people in the wake of such a catastrophe.

"Get onto the internet and start networking with people about what has and hasn't been done," Mr Webley said.

"If they get in touch on the `net with English-speaking people in those countries, they can then email images of their relatives to them.

"Those people can then go down to the local hospital with a print-out of the photo and make some inquiries."

Ten Australians have now been confirmed dead. Grave fears are held for at least another 12 and around 1,000 were still unaccounted for in the disaster zone.

Mr Webley said some of those missing may be lying injured, still trapped in damaged buildings or had simply been unable to make phone contact.

"In my view, there is still time to do something to help those people before they run out of water and it won't be long before they succumb," Mr Webley said.

"But for relatives at home, getting on the plane and just turning up is probably not the best thing to do and of course, the more people who come, the greater the strain on the infrastructure."

Mr Webley said despite the rapidly mounting death toll, there would always be a small percentage of people who simply did not want to be found and who deliberately failed to make contact with official agencies or relatives at home.

"If I was a relative I'd be very concerned if I hadn't heard from somebody after about two weeks."

"The majority of people who don't come back are simply going to be deceased."

©AAP 2004
 

Alex has also written various other articles, some of which have been published in the Media, and been a guest on live radio.