NOKR QUICK REFERENCE WHO, WHAT, HOW AND WHY

WHO

The Next Of Kin Registry (NOKR) is a non-partisan; non-profit 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization dedicated to bridging rapid emergency contact information. NOKR was established in January 2004 as a public service for daily emergency situations.  

WHAT

The Next Of Kin Registry (NOKR) was established as a FREE tool for daily emergencies and national disasters. NOKR is an emergency contact system to help if you or your family member is missing, injured or deceased. NOKR provides the public a free proactive service to store emergency contacts, next of kin and vital medical information that would be critical to emergency response agencies. Stored information is only accessible via a secure area that is only accessible by emergency public trust agencies that have registered with NOKR.

HOW

You would visit the NOKR registration page or the mail-in / fax form page and register either yourself and an emergency point of contact or you could register a family member and their emergency point of contact. Optionally you could register a friend or significant other as a point of contact. Each registration is date stamped; you may also register yourself multiple times. If you have registered yourself several times, we do store each registration and index all individually by date. This information is kept secured and is sent encrypted to a secure area on a separate server once you press the register button. This information is not accessible to the public and is not located on the same site you register at.   

Information stored by public

NOKR SYSTEM

EMERGENCY Agencies 

Once this information is stored it is only accessible via a secure password protected area that is only accessible by emergency public trust agencies that have registered with NOKR.  For system integrity the information collected is never stored at the same location it is collected from.  The NOKR system is backed up several times daily.

NOKR encourages every township, county, municipality, city, state and nation to take ownership of the NOKR. This resource belongs to you, your citizens and to your emergency agencies. Take the NOKR registration forms and add your own identifying symbols.
 

PRIVACY

Your information will not be sold or shared. For privacy reasons we do not list where this information is located. This information is safe guarded to protect our registrant's privacy. This information is only available to Local and State Emergency Agencies working in an official capacity, attempting to locate a next of kin or emergency point of contact. The NOKR will NEVER ask for any intrusive information like your social security number or date of birth.  NOKR does ask for age optionally which is used as a chronological identifier. The Next Of Kin Registry (NOKR) does not share your information openly as your information does not belong to NOKR. Your information belongs to you. NOKR as a nonprofit entity has facilitated a safe secure archiving resources so that you the public can store rapid contact information at no cost as a way to prepare for the unforeseen. Your stored contact information is for emergency use only. To remove your record from the registry please send the following information. The name of the individual registered, the emergency contact associated with this individual, the city and state for both persons. Your letter must also include the date your registration was sent; this is a security factor for permanent removal. Please send this remove request via letter to: Next Of Kin Registry Attention: NOKR Removal 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #908 Washington, DC 20006

SECURITY

All registrations are processed and sent via secure socket layer (SSL) to the NOKR registry at a separate secure location.  This secured location is User Name and Password Protected. All data is protected under the watchful eye of NOKR's staff. All Internet Data Centers are strategically located on AT&T's, Global Crossing and Cable & Wireless' OC48 / OC192 Global IP backbones. These locations, together with the extensive public and private peering arrangements, are designed to maximize NOKR's Internet reach, bandwidth capacity and to optimize performance. To ensure all data's security, all facilities are staffed 24 hours a day with on-site guards and equipped with both interior and exterior closed circuit television. Access to and from the hosting and monitoring areas is controlled via highly secure mantraps. These single entry, hardened portals are extremely effective at limiting access to the facility to authorized personnel only. The operations of all Internet Data Centers are monitored by regional Network Operations Centers (NOC) with mirrored content displayed in other NOCs for failsafe network system diversity and redundancy. Network security is ensured by state-of-the-art software and hardware for network monitoring and routing, intrusion detection and filtering. The NOCs are staffed on a 24/7 basis by skilled network technicians and analysts, who continuously monitor the data center network infrastructure for any signs of problems. Automated features as well as customized options help network managers to predict - and often, resolve - problems before they arise.

WHY

NOKR is the ONLY organization globally, that provides a free emergency contact resource of this kind, to both citizens and to emergency agencies. Many people think that if they are carrying a driver's license, identification card or credit cards, authorities will know who their emergency contact is. The fact is these forms of identity only indicate who you are not who should be contacted in the event of urgent need. To add to this problem, often times your current identification is not updated or readily available and it becomes very difficult and complex to locate next of kin.

Fact
When you leave your home each day, no one will know who your emergency contact is, if the need arises.

Here are just a few reasons why we need NOKR.

You're Injured and can not speak

Your child is lost

Your family member suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer's

You're in an accidents while traveling locally, nationally or internationally

Your home is lost in a fire while you're on vacation

Homeless family member injured or dies alone

Natural Disasters (Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Tornados, Floods, Tsunamis and Fires)

Terrorist Acts Nationally or Internationally

Deceased person used to locate a next of kin or point of contact

Hurricane Katrina, London Bombing, Asian Earthquake and Tsunami, September 11,2001 Attack in USA

NOKR's system is used during daily emergencies and was utilized for the following national and global disasters.
2004 Asian Tsunami
2005 London Bombing
2005 Hurricane Disasters
2005 Mudslide Guatemala
2006 India Train Bombing
2006 Indonesia Earthquake
2006 Leyte Village Philippines Mudslide
2007 Virginia Tech College Shooting
2007 I-35 Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota
2007 California Wildfire's


2008 Update of NOKR

NOKR marks its 4th-year anniversary since launching in January of 2004.

NOKR is now listed on more than 92% of all State websites as a resource for the public and emergency agencies.

NOKR can now be found on many government websites like the US Governments portal www.usa.gov and the Homeland Security site Disasterhelp.gov listed under Non-Government Orgs.

NOKR added a Disaster Only registry section. This allows the victim's family or friends to register and indicate the names of those who may have been involved in any disaster outside the USA, for emergency responders.

NOKR is now a proactive service partner with the American Red Cross. This is a partnership of concerned agencies as part of Disaster Safe.

Post Hurricane Katrina, NOKR was widely seen in the internationally media and on CNN’s Larry King Live during a 3 hour Katrina special.

In 2005 the National Next of Kin Registry was introduced to the US Congress and the US Senate in a series of bills see:
H.R.2560.IH The Elaine Sullivan Act
H.R.3999.IH The National Emergency Family Locator Act
S.1630.IS The National Emergency Family Locator Act

NOKR has volunteers in 47 American States and 87 Countries. These countries include Australia, Africa, Asia, Canada, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Russia and the United Kingdom just to name a few.

NOKR spoke on an American Red Cross (ARC) mass care panel at the 2006 Hurricane Conference in Orlando Florida with the ARC and FEMA.

NOKR strategically partners with the San Diego Super Computer (SDSC) at UCSD La Jolla, California to enhance security, performance, storage and add many new robust features for the public and emergency agencies.

In 2006 NOKR began to blueprint and develop a state of the art system called the National Emergency Locator System (NELS). NOKR's disaster mode will consist of activating the NELS and the toll free 800 check-in number for victims that are self evacuating or that have left a shelter area and for the purpose of reunifying with inquiring family and friends. The NELS resource will also be available online and wirelessly. The NELS resource is a opt in only resources for those who wish to reconnect with loved ones post a disaster. This resource will also have multiple bulletin boards for the public and media to view progress and critical up dates, agency information sharing and volunteer coordination in real-time.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has consulted with the Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) regarding lessons learned post Hurricane Katrina and NOKR’s answer to HR5441, SEC. 689c. NOKR has put forth the requested solution for the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS), which is being established in compliance with Congressional Legislation SEC. 689c of H.R. 5441 to help family members separated after an emergency or major disaster to communicate with one another.

The State of South Carolina is leading a movement to build a template state for emergency preparedness. NOKR is working in cooperation with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD). This cooperative relationship will create an innovative large-scale approach to provide all citizens in South Carolina information about the NOKR as a preparedness resource.

NOKR reaches out to help emergency agencies and the public after the Virginia Tech shooting.

NOKR provides optional area on the emergency contact registration form for registrants to add their identification card or drivers license number during the registration process. This information would be used as a unique identifier and also help when the individual may have a common name.

NOKR issues rapid public web and media notices to help the public post the interstate 35-west bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  NOKR also establishes contact with Minneapolis 311 and Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management to assit in locating contacts.

NOKR quick to react to the 2007 California wild fires, the State of California places the (Next of Kin) system on the front page of states website http://ca.gov

Google adwords awards grant to NOKR to help support and promote the free Emergency Contact system.